22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
3 September 2017 ~ St. Monica, Palatka & St. John Interlachen~
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Jeremiah 20:1-9 ~ The word of God has brought me derision and reproach all the day…
Psalm 63 ~ My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God!
Romans 12:1-2 ~ I urge you brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-27~ Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
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An Aesop fable goes like this: A lion, a fox and donkey became partners and successfully acquired a large amount of food. The lion asked the donkey to divide the prize. Carefully, the donkey divided the spoil into three equal shares. The lion was offended, burst into a rage, and devoured the donkey.
Then the lion asked the fox to make a division. The fox accumulated all they had killed into one large heap and left but a small morsel for himself. The lion said, “This is perfect. Who taught you how to divide so well?”
The fox replied, “I just recently learned it from the donkey.”
They say that wise people learn from the misfortunes of others.
Last week, many of us would have loved to be Peter who got the right answer when Jesus asked his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” But this week we hear Jesus say to Peter, “Get behind me Satan! You are an obstacle to me!” In Marine terms, we would say that the drill sergeant ate the private for lunch!
Was Peter that wrong? Peter believed that Jesus was the Christ and that things would be Great. But for Jesus, things would be great, but not in the way the world thinks.
Jesus has a mission. He said at the beginning of his ministry in his home town, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. God sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” At first the people thought this was wonderful, until it meant they had to change. Jesus added, “No prophet is accepted in his own native place.” Then they tried to kill him. Jesus was telling us that the inequality in our towns, even Palatka, is unacceptable. No one is better than anyone else. We are all equal.
The world believes we can get away with being self-serving like the lion or fearful of the bullies like the fox. We believe that we can go on in this world without accepting our cross. Jesus minces no words to his disciples and us. We must deny self, take up our cross, and lose our life. So who in the world would choose to follow Jesus? No wonder Peter rebukes Jesus!
Jesus is the donkey, meek and humble but fair. That means we are all called to be donkeys! All are welcome. He died for all. We tend to be more like the fox by living in fear and conforming to the lions and the racists in the world. We defend our rights and amendments, and our securities while we close our doors and wall up our ability to hear the cry of the poor. We fail to offer first fruits to God.
Jesus not only learned from the prophets, but he became one. Jeremiah the prophet chose to accept his calling and be the one prophet out of 100. Jesus tells us, “There are 99 false prophets for every true prophet.” Jeremiah simply told the truth, but he was ready to quit because he knew he would be killed if he kept speaking the Word of God. Jesus never quits on anyone, especially the poor, immigrants and refugees. Jesus is asking each of us today for a radical conversion. He knows we will be rejected, but he knows we will gain eternal life.
What we bring to this altar is nothing less than our entire body and soul. “Pray my brothers and sisters that my sacrifice and yours will be acceptable to our loving God.” It really has nothing to do with the money. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus tells us. If the worldly lion eats us for lunch, God will raise us up on this altar today!
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