Harsh words, sad thoughts?
Year A – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 16:21-27: “If anyone wants to come after me…”
The Gospel for this Twenty-Second Sunday is a continuation of last Sunday’s, and once again Peter is the main character. It presents the first of the three announcements of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection, and is a concentrated summary of the second part of the Gospel.
1. A disturbing diptych
One could say that the two passages, today’s and last Sunday’s, form an unusual diptych: on one side, a luminous icon of an enthusiastic, inspired Saint Peter, who proclaims Jesus to be the Messiah and is declared blessed by Jesus and appointed as the foundation stone of the Church; on the other, a grey icon of a Saint Peter scandalised by Christ’s words, who rebukes the Master and who, in turn, is rebuked by Jesus, called Satan and described as a stumbling block. It is difficult to imagine a sharper contrast! And yet it is a perfect mirror of our own reality!
2. A new beginning
“Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, be killed and rise again on the third day.”
Began: this is a new beginning. Here we find a watershed in the first three Gospels. From this moment onwards, both the direction and the discourse change. “Each one of us has something to begin” (Emmanuel Levinas). Life is never a continuum. The challenge is to discern when it is time to change pace or to begin something new. And so, after last Sunday’s enquiry, Jesus decides to “begin to explain”.
What does he have to explain? “That he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly.” Why “had to”? we might ask. Was it perhaps “the will of the Father”? We speak so much about “doing God’s will”, and yet he, instead, hands himself over to ours! We speak too much about the will of God, often associating it with evil, suffering and injustice that we “have to” endure and accept, rather than associating it with the good, justice and love that are to be desired and sought. And so we risk mistreating it and distorting it.
Jesus had to go to Jerusalem, “the city that kills the prophets”, because he had decided to go all the way in his complete solidarity with our humanity. It is the duty of love!
In conclusion, Jesus wants to explain that he is not the kind of Messiah everyone is expecting: a messiah-king who should restore the kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:6); a messiah-judge who should judge the wicked (Matthew 3:12). His messiahship is that of the Suffering Servant foretold in Isaiah 53, judged and condemned by the political and religious authorities. This is why this announcement throws his disciples into confusion. And us too, let us admit it. Hence Peter’s reaction, on behalf of the disciples and on our behalf.
3. Who dwells within us: God or “Satan”?
“Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him !”
“No, do not say such things, this can never happen to you! You are the Messiah, the Son of God!”, Peter seems to want to say. Jesus’ reaction is extremely harsh, even disproportionate and unfair, one might say. “Get behind me, Satan!” And so Peter falls from the heights of heavenly revelation into the depths of the abyss.
Peter certainly had courage! The courage that, sadly, we often lack, preferring to keep inside what we really think so that we are not rebuked as he was. And so our own “Satan” (the adversary) remains well hidden within us, behind the respectable façade of conventional goodness and our “practices of piety”.
4. Jesus keeps his distance
What strikes me most about Jesus’ reaction, apart from its harshness, is the way in which he seems to distance himself from his own followers: “If anyone wants to come after me…” He does not say: “If you want to come…”, but uses impersonal language, as though he were even prepared to let them go. Rather like that dramatic desertion after the discourse at Capernaum: “Do you also want to go away?” (John 6:67).
This harsh manner must have wounded the disciples’ hearts. Ours too, I would say. On reflection, Jesus would be ready to do the same with us today. He does not run after us trying to convince us to stay, perhaps by making compromises. Yes, he is the Good Shepherd who loves and cares for his sheep, but he refuses to violate their freedom. Clear terms make for lasting friendship!
How, then, can we not make the prophet Jeremiah’s outburst our own? “You seduced me, Lord, and I allowed myself to be seduced… I said to myself: ‘I will no longer think of him, I will no longer speak in his name!’ But in my heart there was something like a burning fire… I tried to hold it in, but I could not” (First Reading, Jeremiah 20:7-9).
5. The symbolism of the number three
Another aspect of the text that draws attention is its structure based on the number 3, a symbol of perfection and completeness, which underlines the importance of its content:
- Jesus alludes to the threefold aspect of the “Paschal Mystery”: passion-death-resurrection;
- three times Jesus will announce his passion and each time there will be a negative reaction from the apostles, followed by a catechesis from Jesus;
- Jesus will be persecuted by three categories of people: the elders (guardians of tradition and power), the chief priests (guardians of religion) and the scribes (guardians of the law);
- Jesus lays down three conditions for following him: deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me!;
- Jesus presents three arguments of wisdom to show that the conditions for following him, which at first sight seem so harsh, are in fact the only ones that truly make sense.
6. What is at stake: life!
The word “life” is the most frequently recurring word in our text (4 times), together with the verbs connected with it: lose (3), save, find, gain. I find this significant. What is at stake is life itself: losing it or finding it! Whoever invests only in the immediate will end up a loser. Whoever invests with courage, generosity and breadth of vision will be a winner.
For personal reflection and prayer
Find a quiet moment to meditate on the text of the Second Reading:
“I urge you, by the mercy of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this world, but let yourselves be transformed by renewing your way of thinking, so that you may discern the will of God, what is good, pleasing to him and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).
One wish: may Jesus’ harsh words not leave us sad or discouraged. Thoughtful, yes!
Fr Manuel João Pereira Correia, MCCJ
Fr. Manuel João, comboni missionary
Sunday Reflection
from the womb of my whale, ALS
Our cross is the pulpit of the Word
