Sunday of Week 22 of Ordinary Time (Year A)

Commentary on Jeremiah 20:7-9; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27

In last week’s Gospel, we saw the disciples riding high. They had, through Peter, acknowledged that Jesus, their teacher and friend, was no less than the long-awaited Messiah-King of Israel:

You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. (Matt 16:16)

It must have been a really exciting moment for them. This, in turn, brought from Jesus a commission of the highest responsibility to Peter and his fellow disciples. Through Jesus, they were to be given the authority of God himself within their future communities. Peter himself is spoken of as a rock, firm and unshakeable, on which the ekklesia, the Church community, will be built.

It is hard to imagine that this was not a moment of particular joy and satisfaction for the disciples. They now were thinking that Jesus, in line with Jewish expectations, would be a glorious and powerful king. And they, of course, as his followers and companions would have a special share in the glory and privileges that went with it. (In fact later, would not two of them go so far as to ask, rather cheekily, and behind their brothers’ backs, for special places in the Kingdom, to sit on the right and left of Jesus?)

A shock
However, the euphoria was not to last very long. Very soon after this:

Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.

This, undoubtedly, comes as a terrible shock. This was not at all part of the scenario for the coming of the Messiah! What is worse, the agents of Jesus’ humiliation and death will not be some hostile outsiders (like the pagan and barbaric Romans), but the leaders and most distinguished people of their own community. The elders, chief priests and scribes were the people who formed the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews in Palestine.

Furthermore, it would happen in Jerusalem, the holy city, the site of the Temple where God dwelt among his people. It might also be remembered, however, that Jerusalem was the city where prophets died and Jesus had said to the Pharisees:

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! (Matthew 23:37)

The disciples must have felt very disturbed and confused indeed.

A protest
So, it is not surprising that at this point, Peter, still flush with his newly-acquired status, takes Jesus to one side, speaking to him almost on equal terms:

God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.

How can this happen to the Messiah-King of Israel?

The angry reaction of Jesus must have come as somewhat unexpected, to say the least. Turning to face Peter, Jesus says:

Get behind me, Satan!

These are strong words for someone who just now was being given leadership of the community Jesus would leave behind. It is not to be understood that Peter is literally a demon, but the disciple’s words are understood as a real temptation to Jesus to turn away from the path he is to follow. Unwittingly and with the best of intentions, Peter is doing the devil’s work—trying to steer Jesus away from the path laid out for him by his Father. How often have we been such a temptation or stumbling block to others? Perhaps more often than we care to think.

You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.

Peter is seen as an obstacle, a scandal (Greek, skandalon), a stone in one’s path which causes one to stumble. Ironically, the ‘rock’ which Jesus just now had said would be the foundation of his ‘church’ is now seen as an obstacle to Jesus’ work and mission!

The mind of Christ
Jesus is angry for, though his disciples may have acknowledged that he is the Messiah, they clearly have no idea whatever what kind of Messiah-King Jesus is going to be. They are, as he says, thinking in purely human terms and have not yet got “the mind of Christ” (Phil 2:5).

They shall have to change completely their ideas about what the Messiah is going to be like. He will not be a great political and military leader who will sweep away all of Israel’s enemies. Even after the resurrection they were still thinking in those terms.

Said the two fellows on their way to Emmaus, not realising the irony of their words:

…we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.
(Luke 24:21)

And, the disciples asked Jesus as he prepared to leave them at the Ascension:

Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)

Yes, Jesus will be a King, but he will be a King of love, a King who will rule by serving. Because he loves and serves them, he will, if necessary, be prepared to die for them, for this is the greatest love that a person can show for his friends. This is not to say that Jesus wants to die on the cross, but he is totally prepared to suffer and die, if the service of love demands it—and it will. Ultimately, the disciples will see that the death of Jesus was the source of his greatest glory and power:

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth [on the cross and into glory], will draw all people to myself. (John 12:32)

The prophet’s lot
The other readings today give examples of people who had similar experiences to Jesus. In the First Reading Jeremiah seems to regret that he was called by God to be his prophet.

O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed.

As a result he became an object of people’s ridicule, a “laughingstock”.  Every time he opened his mouth, he had to warn of violence and disaster coming on God’s people. In return he got nothing but insults and derision. He decided he would not speak about God:

I will not mention him or speak any more in his name…

But that did not work because:

…within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

He just had to go on speaking God’s message, which was like a fire in his heart, to his people whatever the cost to himself. It is a situation like this which explains why a person would risk insults, suffering and even death in order to witness to Truth and Love. Many people languishing in jails today for expressing their religious and political beliefs know this feeling. We have seen how political or religious dissidents released from jail show no signs of “conversion” and continue the struggle for human dignity.  It is something which those who see life in terms of material comfort and power simply cannot understand.

Paul, in the Second Reading, also knew all about this. He urges his fellow-Christians to offer their:

…bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship.

And, they are not to:

…be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that [they] may discern what is the will of God.

They need a “new mind”, the way of thinking which Jesus had and which Peter certainly did not yet have in today’s Gospel.

Walking with Jesus
Today’s Gospel goes further than just asking us to understand why the glory of Jesus our King and Lord was to be found through suffering and the shameful death of the Cross.  There is a further call for us to walk the same road with Jesus:

If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Jesus is asking each one of us to dedicate our lives to totally loving and serving others even, if at times, this involves misunderstanding, ridicule, pain and even death itself.

It would be altogether wrong to think that Jesus is asking us to lead miserable lives in order to be good Christians, although one gets the impression that some people interpret the passage in that way. To follow Jesus fully, we must be able to see life as he sees it, we must have that “mind of Christ”.

When we have the mind of Christ, then we can only see our lives in terms of loving and serving others and not in the pursuit of purely self-centred or even family-centred ambition. When we have the mind of Christ, the whole direction of our life changes. Our whole concept of happiness changes. Jesus is calling us not to a life of sacrifice and suffering, but rather to a life of total love and freedom. The person who can go to jail for his beliefs is more free and usually a lot happier than the one who is tied to the pursuit of material things, social position, pleasure, and the fear of pain.

“Denying oneself” is not a suppression of one’s personality. It is rather to let go of one’s ego, so that one can really find oneself.

This is what today’s readings are saying, namely, that Jesus is calling us to where true success and happiness are. Maybe when we walk the way of Jesus there will be people who criticise us, think we are stupid, and even attack us. Yet those who have chosen the way of Jesus again and again confirm that their lives are full of freedom, happiness, and peace. Isn’t that what we all would like to experience?

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Blessed Miguel Augustin Pro, Priest and Martyr, SJ – Readings

Commentary on Jeremiah 20:7-9; Psalm 100; Matthew 7:13-14, 21-25

The Gospel reading is from Matthew. It is a passage from the Sermon on the Mount, which in general gives a picture of the true disciple of Jesus, beginning with the beautiful set of statements we call the Beatitudes.

Today’s reading comes from the last of the three chapters which make up this long discourse (most likely, it was not delivered at one time by Jesus but is rather a collection of his teachings on a single theme).

In the first part of the reading, Jesus urges his followers to “enter through the narrow gate”. That gate leads to the Way of Jesus. It has very clearly marked parameters but it is the Way to truth, to unconditional love of God and of one’s brothers and sisters, it is a Way of justice, of compassion for those in need, and the Way that leads to deep fulfilment.

On the other hand, “the gate that leads to damnation is wide, the road is clear and many choose to travel it”. It is the way of unbridled liberalism, a way where anything goes, if you like it, do it.
But it is a road that leads to one’s own ultimate destruction and the destruction of others. We see it every day.

The Way of Jesus, the Way of Truth and Love, can seem very restricting, a narrow gate, and yet to those who choose to walk this Way it is the road to true freedom and fulfilment. And it is the Way that Miguel Pro chose to walk and who risked his life in helping others who also wanted to go the Way of Jesus.

In the second part of the reading, Jesus tells his disciples that simply calling out ‘Lord, Lord’ will not guarantee one a place in God’s Kingdom. Only those who faithfully carry out God’s will in their lives will be part of his Kingdom. And that is really a definition of the Kingdom: the Kingdom exists wherever people are living their lives in the way that God wants.

At the end, when “that day” comes, it will not be enough to say that one did all kinds of things in the name of God – that one prophesied, that one exorcised people, or even performed miracles. One hears of certain people who claim to do all these things and attract large numbers of people to them as ‘wonderworkers’ with a direct line to God or a saint. But, where God is concerned, it means nothing if they are not living according to the will of God as laid out for us by Jesus in the Gospel. On meeting the Lord, they will cry out: “We expelled devils in your name!” And God will say to them the terrible words: “I never knew you.”

Again, such accusations could never be thrown against Miguel Pro. He served his Lord not by any sensational demonstrations but, behind closed doors, bringing Christ to his brothers and sisters and doing so at great risk to his life. Publicity was the last thing he wanted. Ironically, it was in his death that his enemies gave him that publicity.

The First Reading from the prophet Jeremiah is a beautiful passage where Jeremiah speaks of the pain he experiences in being a prophet and yet a pain that he in no way can avoid, or wants to avoid. It must reflect the feelings that Miguel Pro experienced in leading a life where he was always just one step ahead of those anxious to destroy him.

Jeremiah begins by partly mocking his God and himself: “You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. All the day I am an object of ridicule; everyone mocks me.” Miguel, too, allowed himself to be duped by his Lord but did not for a moment regret it. The power of Jesus’ love was too strong and could not be resisted but, as a result, he became a man on the run, an object of contempt for his enemies.

Jeremiah complains that he has no choice but to pass on the message of his Lord but he pays a high price for it. “Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message” – the violence that will come when God’s people do not listen to him. “The word of the Lord has brought me derision and reproach all the day.”

Not surprisingly, he would like to keep silence and not endure such derision but he knows he cannot. “I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more, but then it comes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my very bones, I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.”

Miguel Pro would surely have identified with every word in this experience of Jeremiah. How nice it would have been to run away from Mexico and go to some place where it is easy to be a practising Catholic. But there is no way he could have done that. His flock needed him. He was the good shepherd ready to die for his sheep.

May our Church have many such sheep at every level in the task of our Christian mission.

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