22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 3, 2023

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The risks and rewards of following Jesus

Matthew 16:21–27

From that time on, 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 him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

He 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.”

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?

“For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.”

Music Meditations

Opening Prayer

Lord, you invite us to ask question of our actions, motives and attitudes, to ask ourselves what we expect if we follow your ways. Support us in the times that are not easy, and help us to keep focused on holding you and your ideals close to my heart, even when it hurts to do so.

Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions” (2011). A service of the Southern Dominican Province:

Last Sunday Jesus blessed Peter and gave him authority over his mission to build the household of God. Things have turned quickly on Peter as now Jesus calls him a devil and pushes him off. The sound of his rejection reminds us of what Jesus said to the devil when he tempted Jesus in the desert, “Away with you, Satan!” You can’t blame Peter for trying to save his master from pain and death. But there is more involved than just a devoted disciple’s desire to protect the teacher he loves and follows. Christianity is not an easy walk, all smiles and good feelings. “Finding Jesus,” or having “Jesus in my heart,” might produce initial buoyancy of spirit. But eventually the fuller picture of what following Jesus entails will set in. In the first reading, Jeremiah was initially attracted by God’s call, but today feels tricked by God because his vocation has caused him much grief. Peter should have known better, after all, he’s following the prophet Jesus. If Peter had reflected over the history of his religion, he would have remembered how prophets got rejected and killed. Now Peter is facing what Jeremiah faced: he is being called to accept a prophetic role and it will cost. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.”

You can buy a gold cross in any jewelry store. If you are a rock or movie star you can afford to buy a large jewel-encrusted cross to wear before your adoring followers. But that’s not the kind of cross Jesus invites Peter and us to willingly take up each day. We are not likely to suffer crucifixion as Jesus did, but it’s clear Jesus invites his disciples to sacrifice for his sake and for the preaching of the gospel.

Today Paul points out how we disciples are to live. We ought to offer our bodies “as a living sacrifice.” Christians are not to “conform yourselves to this age....” If we choose to follow Christ we will live lives based on a different set of values from what guides those around us. This choice will cost us—friends, family, popularity and even possessions. We cannot buy into the values of our culture without first passing them under the lens of the gospel. At first Peter does not accept the terms of the relationship Jesus is offering. The emphasis on the pain and sacrifice seems to have blocked his ears to what comes along with the cross—life. Peter will, Jesus promises, gain his life.

After we get beyond Jesus’ casting Peter off, we might notice there’s an offer also being made to Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” It’s an initial rejection, Jesus is also telling Peter to go back where disciples should be—behind and following Jesus. That’s the right place for us too, despite our repeated failures to live up to being Jesus’ disciples. Like Peter, in subtle or more obvious ways, we have rejected the cost of discipleship and admit today our need for another chance to keep trying. We are invited back where we belong—following Jesus. Along with other disciples, we will be guided by Matthew over the next weeks as we listen to Jesus’ teachings. We disciples will notice on our journey with Jesus how he daily accepts his cross; the rejection and slander thrown in his path on the road to Jerusalem. As always, Jesus offers forgiveness for wayward and even obstructing disciples. Jesus sees in us what he saw in Peter, a willingness to do the best we can to follow him, even unto death. And so we join Peter as we get behind Jesus and follow him to Jerusalem.

Further reading:

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • Have I ever been in the middle of a project and realized that it was a much bigger undertaking than I imagined and was going to cost me more in time and resources than I was prepared to spend?
  • What is my motivation behind engaging in denial of future unpleasant events—either ones I will experience or ones I expect a loved one will experience?
  • Have I ever been in denial about some reality of life, or try to “sugarcoat” the truth for someone else?
    How did it work out for me?
  • What would you do to prevent a family member or another loved one from being hurt?
  • If you thought a beloved one was making a foolish or dangerous choice, would you try to talk them out of it?
  • Have I ever been the recipient of someone’s fear for my safety or happiness?
    What form did this fear take?
    How did I respond?
  • Why do you think Jesus reacts the way he does?
  • Do I secretly believe that faith in Jesus will make life easier?
    Or that it ought to?
    Has there been a time when God’s plan for me did not meet my expectations?
  • Do we tend to measure whether we are doing the right thing by how well things turn out?
  • Is there a prevailing, but unacknowledged expectation that if we are doing what god wants, then god will “bless” us with having things turn out well?
  • Can you name any contemporary people who have spoken out boldly for what they believed,?
    Other than the usual heroes like MLK, Jr, Bishop Romero, do you know of ordinary people who did something similar?
    Was there a cost?
  • Do I sometimes in my own religious journey deny the meaning of the cross?
    Why?
    What do I think it means, in real-life terms, to take up my cross and follow Christ?
    What do I have to risk?
  • From Daniel Harrington, S.J.:
    Do you ever think of your whole life as an act of worship?
  • What does it mean to say that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God?
    Did Peter think it meant something quite different from the reality of Jesus’ life?
  • Which of the last two gospel stories seems to be a truer picture of Peter?
    With which one do I most identify? Why?
  • In what way do we try to “save our lives”?
    What do we buy, or use, or what comforts do we seek, calling those possessions “life”?
    Is there anything in our current culture—any values which might not pass the “smell test” when compared to Jesus teaching?
  • What in my life do I want to “save”?
    What is the cost?
    Is there anything precious to me that I can let go of in order to be able to live more fully?
  • I think of one behavior or personal habit I need to lose in order to save my own life as a follower of Jesus, or as a happy person.
  • How does the message of this gospel fly in the face of our expectations that following Jesus will bring us an end to our problems?
  • How does the Great Commandment fit into the message that those who try to save their lives will lose them?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Read Acts 4:1-22. How has Peter’s attitude been changed since the story related in Matthew 16? What do you think Peter expected when he began to follow Jesus? What has happened to him to give him the courage and the strength he displays in the story from Acts? Think of a time in your life when you dreaded something in the future, but then plucked up the courage to face the challenge. What do you think gave you the strength to do what you had to do?

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions

Adapted from “First Impressions” (2008), a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

Do we have a choice; can we reject the invitation of Jesus? Of course we can. What is given to us today is an invitation, not a command. “Whoever wishes to come after me....Whoever wishes to save his/her life....” Jesus wants us to be fully aware of what we are taking on. But we won’t always feel the divine pat on the back for a job well done. Like Jesus, we may just have to keep going, trusting the call we once heard.

Jesus invites us into the same daily journey. What might we lose? In following Jesus, we might

  • find ourselves at odds with our family’s fundamental choices and criteria for success
  • refuse to practice unethical behavior, even at the risk of our academic advancement or careers
  • choose forgiveness against voices telling us to be “realistic” and not naive
  • do an honest day’s work, even when the boss is not looking and others are cutting corners and telling us “everyone else does it”
  • treat co-workers with respect, despite their job skills, level of education or social status
  • welcome the newcomers into our social grouping, and treat them as “one of us”

Jesus invites you into the same daily journey. What might you gain? Only you can answer this question for yourself. Spend some time this week reflecting not only on the risks of discipleship, but also on its rewards.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

From Pope Francis, on the opening of the Synod October 2021:

The Gospels frequently show us Jesus on a journey; he walks alongside people and listens to the questions and concerns working in their hearts. He shows us that God is not found neat and orderly places, distant from reality, but walks ever at our side. He meets us where we are, on the often rocky road of life. God travels the path of history and shares in the life of humanity are we prepared for the advantage of this journey? How do I live as though I am really on this journey with God?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Read this part of chapter 12 of the gospel of John:

Jesus answered: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.

Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.”

Sometimes we forget that Jesus was human, just as we are, with the same hopes and fears. In this section of John, we see hints of the internal difficulties he faced. It could not have been easy for him, just as impending events are not always easy with us. Share with Jesus your understanding of his human fears and trepidations, his impending loss of his friends and his very life. Put yourself in his place as he stares down the stark realities of his future. Pick a phrase from this passage that speaks to you, or one that you struggle with. Then share with him a time when you suffered for doing the right thing, and share, too, your temptations to sometimes take the easy way out, because it is sometime so very hard follow in his footsteps.

Poetic Reflection:

Read the following poem by Mary Oliver. What is your response?

“The Journey”

One day you finally knew
what you had to do and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
around your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord, help me to understand that I must let go of all that seems to suggest getting somewhere, being someone, having a name and a voice, following a policy and directing people in “my” ways. This is hard, Lord. Help me to remember that what matters is to love.