22nd Sunday Ordinary Time
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Cycle A
Q491: Why did Jesus get so angry with Peter in today’s gospel (Matt 16:21-27)?
On Instructing the Instructors
Q334: How does one “gain the world” yet still “forfeit his life” (Mt 16:26)?
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A178: Why is Jesus getting so "tough" with Peter in today's gospel (Matt 16:21-27)? After all, Peter is just acting like a friend, trying to reassure Jesus and praying that no evil will befall him.
A. 178: Jesus gave Peter a "rude awakening," because he was interfering with God's will for Jesus! Nothing is to get in the way of the mission of Jesus, the reason for which he was sent by the Father. If you will remember, this story was preceded (Matt 16:13-20) last Sunday by the revelation received by Peter that Jesus was the promised Messiah. What a "Wow" moment for Peter! Then last month we heard about another profound revelation to Peter, on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-8). What a joy for Peter, to realize that he had been chosen to be blessed with still another "Wow" experience, as he witnesses the divine glory of Jesus and even sees Elijah and Moses!
Well, right in between those two lofty "mountain top" spiritual experiences lies the valley of routine everyday life. This is the place where we discover that "pain" can also be a part of a true Christian life. But Peter was still living on the mountain top, and needed to be brought "down to earth." He either couldn't or wouldn't believe that Jesus could suffer and die, like Jesus said would happen. So Jesus had to use "tough love" and set him straight, calling him a "satan" to really get his attention!
Reflection: Can I recall those times when I received a "rude awakening" and had to face myself and my weak, misinformed or uninformed faith? Can I be humble enough to at least say, "maybe I am wrong and the bishops united with the pope are right"? Am I willing to attend Adult Education classes to learn more about both the theological and the practical aspects of my faith? Do I really understand that without a solid daily prayer life, it is very difficult to discern God's will for me?
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Q491: Why did Jesus get so angry with Peter in today’s gospel (Matt 16:21-27)?
Think for a moment about a different scenario. Pretend that your father is at a very advanced stage of cancer, and only has a day or two to live. You go to visit him, wagging your finger in his face and telling him that everyone is wrong about that terminal diagnosis; he surely will not die from cancer, so he’d better stop thinking about such nonsense. I suspect that if the man in bed had the strength to do it, he would just roll his eyeballs and wonder what kind of a child he had raised!
Now look at today’s scenario. Jesus has just told the apostles that he would be killed when they got to Jerusalem, but would be raised from the dead. Picture the apostle Peter taking Jesus aside, wagging his finger in his face in a very scolding, reprimanding way [that is what the word “rebuke” means], and telling him that he has to stop talking such nonsense. After all, it doesn’t fit the “victorious warrior” image that befits the Messiah. Jesus didn’t lose a heartbeat. He immediately told Peter to get out of his way; Peter was acting like a “Satan,” an obstacle in his path.
Peter just didn’t “get it.” To be Messiah did not mean to receive power and glory in the human political or military sense. Rather, Jesus came to teach us that Messiahship means self-sacrifice and self-giving. If that is true for the Messiah, then it is also true for his followers. Peter, and You, and I have to rethink what it means to be a true Disciple. There is no room for seeking honor and glory; there is only room for self-sacrificing love. Your home and your workplace are the testing grounds to prove your ability to use these weapons effectively.
KNOW YOUR CATECHISM! Peter’s scorn for Jesus’ prediction (CCC #554) would soon change to recognition of the need to “deny self” and follow Jesus, even with our crosses (CCC #2029). This actually makes us “partners” in this redemptive mystery (CCC #618).
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On Instructing the Instructors
Back in the 1950's, when Catholics still spoke of Africa as a distinctly "mission" continent, a film on the missions in East Africa was shown to the children of St. Mary's School in Corning, New York. A well-produced Technicolor movie, it illustrated both the earnest work of the missionaries and the devotion and the simple Christian dignity of the black African converts. Then, to fill out the movie hours, the projectionist concluded with an American film on sports-car games and contests. Daredevil drivers jumped their autos through flaming rings; stockcars battled stock cars, racing about the field and bumping into each other in a madcap game.
The contrast between the two moving pictures did not escape the kids.
At the end of the show, a fifth-grade said to Sister Suzanne, "Why do we go over to convert the Negroes in Africa? They ought to come over here and convert us!"
"... Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect." (Romans, 12:2, Today's second reading).
-Father Robert F. McNamara
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Q334: How does one “gain the world” yet still “forfeit his life” (Mt 16:26)?
I have heard a vivid image used many times to contrast two types of behavior, so much so that I do not know the original source. The context for this image is the area of moral choices that every Christian faces daily; and the comparison is between a thermometer and a thermostat. We find that illustrated today in St. Paul’s wonderful advice (Second Reading: Romans 12:1-2). St. Paul teaches, “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern the will of God.”
I suspect there have been many times that we “went along with the crowd” and did whatever the peer pressure of the moment demanded. But this is not the kind of kind of behavior that Jesus demands from a disciple. It is nothing more than a “thermometer life” – one in which a person responds in lock-step to whatever the sinful social environment around him demands. That is what St. Paul meant by “conforming yourself to this age.”
On the other hand, a “thermostat life” is one where the person takes positive actions, appropriate decisions based upon truth (i.e., excessive heat or cold). It is a process of simple discernment. This is what St. Paul calls us to: to discern the “signs of the times,” the situation at hand, so that we can discern God’s will, rather than act on our selfish desires or those of peers. Jesus teaches in the gospel today that lack of such discernment can result in gaining the whole world, but suffering the loss of one’s eternal life (Mt 16:26).
Know Your Catechism! The more we renounce our selfishness, the more we walk by the Spirit (CCC #736). The baptized continue to struggle against disordered desires, but will prevail with God’s grace (CCC #2520). It is only through prayer that we can discern the will of God and obtain the endurance to do it (CCC #2826).
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