Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dominica XXII per Annum A
3 September 2023

  I think it is important to keep in mind last week’s Gospel selection as we consider this week’s selection.  The two selections belong together.  They are sequential.  What we just heard from St. Matthew’s Gospel follows immediately upon what we heard from St. Matthew last week.  In last Sunday’s selection, the Lord asked his disciples to report who people think he is and then to report who they say he is.  Speaking for the group, Peter had a triumphant moment by professing correct faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  In this triumphant profession of correct doctrinal faith Jesus says that Peter is a rock.  He is a large firm foundation upon which the Church will be built.

Following upon that correct profession of faith, in this weekend’s Gospel selection, the disciples – and we – learn still more.  We learn that another key aspect of having a firm foundation is living the correct faith and observing what it means to be a disciple, to be a student, who cannot make up his own moral foundation and teaching, but who must follow behind the Master.  This aspect of living the faith of a disciple goes hand-in-hand with the correct statement of doctrine, a correct faith.  What we believe matters.  And how we live matters.  These two weekend Gospel selections give us a fuller picture of the type of rock-solid foundation we need.  And what we learn this weekend about believing in Jesus and following him is that discipleship involves suffering.  We must change after all; and that is rarely easy or pleasant.

So important is this connection between correct doctrinal faith and the living of it, that following up his moment of triumph in last weekend’s selection, Peter has a particularly cringe-worthy and embarrassing low point in today’s selection.  The Lord instructs that he must go to Jerusalem where he will suffer greatly from the religious authorities and be killed.  This was not the idea that Peter and the others had in mind for the fulfillment of God’s promises of a Christ, a Messiah.  And so, Peter tries to reject the suffering that goes hand in hand with the Lord’s mission, and that goes hand-in-hand with being a disciple.  Peter pulls the Lord aside and rebukes him.  He pushes back on the teaching of suffering.  He rejects it.  He sort of wags his finger at Jesus and says, “Now, now, that wasn’t our expectation.  You need to agree with what makes sense to us.”  And Peter who had been given that name of “rock” just moments before now gets a new name: “Satan”.  The Lord firmly rebukes Peter.  And we need to hear that strong rebuke for what it is: “Get behind me, Satan!  You are an obstacle to me.”  A quick side note of interest: the Greek word for “obstacle” is a reference to a stone that causes one to stumble.  So, when Peter understands his proper place behind Jesus, that is, following Jesus, he can serve as the large rock-solid foundation stone of the Church.  But when Peter presumes to correct the Lord or to try to be the one who leads Jesus, he serves only to be a small stumbling stone.  When Peter presumes to lead Jesus, he in fact ceases to be a disciple.  The Gospel tells us that Peter and Jesus had been speaking to one another apart from the others.  When the Lord prepares to deliver his rebuke, “Get behind me, Satan”, the Gospel says that Jesus turned, meaning that he was physically putting Peter in his proper place; he was putting Peter behind him, where a disciple can actually be a disciple because he is in the place to actually follow the Master.

What does this passage, together with last Sunday’s, do for us?  Do we attempt the same failed method of discipleship that Peter attempted?  Do we maybe say the right things about being a Christian disciple, meanwhile we reject living what that means?  Do we sort of “rebuke” Jesus’ manner of showing us the way, the truth, and the life, by choosing our own way?  Do we reject some aspects of what our life ought to look like, how our life ought to be lived, while claiming to be a Christian?  Do we seek to take the lead away from Jesus and his Church by determining our own standards for living the faith?  Would there be any evidence if we were charged with saying the right things about the Lord (professing the correct faith) yet not living the way a disciple should live?  A significant area of life for our review, related to this passage is the following: Do I reject the difficulty that comes with converting, changing my life, and following behind the Lord?  Do I make excuses for my sin?  Are there things about being a disciple that I refuse to accept?  What inconsistencies in my life must I “die” to, so that I am not facing off with the Lord trying to tell him how things ought to be?

  Some specific examples may help our examination of conscience.  Am I the type of disciple who is here to use and to take, but I rarely give?   Do I think that being “busy” is a good excuse for laxity in prayer?  Because prayer can be difficult, does that absolve me from the struggle of dying to self and being with the Lord?  When I want to spend hours watching TV or surfing the internet, will I admit that I must die to those desires in order to make time to be with the Lord in prayer?  Would people who know me well be surprised if my social media profile indicates that “God is my all” or that the “Bible is my favorite book,” or that “I’m catholic”?  Do I justify my own morality in my use of the internet and what sites I visit?  Do I observe purity with myself and in relationships?  Am I working to acquire that virtue?  Will I admit that a disciple who follows the Lord should not choose cohabitation?  If married, am I married according to the sacrament in the Catholic Church?  What in my marriage, or what in the way I treat my spouse, does not reflect the type of sacrifice that is part of being a disciple?  Am I raising my children in the actual practice of the faith like I promised God on the day of their baptism?  Or is the family at Mass only when it is convenient or when it is a sacramental preparation year, when we expect our child to “get” something from the Church?  Do I support my child’s discovery of his vocation and do I encourage my child to consider the priesthood or religious life?  Do I have all the time in the world to know song lyrics and movie lines by heart but I’m far less saturated in God’s life-giving Word in the Bible?

I could go on and one with examples that indict both you and me.  The bottom line is this: What in my life is like Peter taking Jesus aside to rebuke him, telling him my terms for being a disciple?  Even if I say the right things about Jesus, like Peter did last week, what in my living of the faith is not in accord with dying to self and suffering to follow the Master and the narrow way that leads to blessing and eternal life?  This is the kind of self-reflection that needs to mark our lives.  And not just once, but constantly.  The Lord teaches us along with the apostles in the Gospel passage: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”  And he goes on to say, we will be repaid according to our conduct.  If we are trying to lead Jesus instead of follow him, then the repayment will not be pleasant.  My friends, this is not a light matter and the self-examination that needs to mark us is most serious.  Plenty of people can go astray, even if they don’t intend to, and even if we would consider them otherwise basically good people.  There is a risk that a person’s discipleship could be more something on the lips (what they say) while what they do shows them to be trying to lead the Lord rather than follow the Lord.  Just like the example of Peter, and whether it comes from among the ordained clergy, or the laity, or the consecrated religious, throughout the ages movements of disciples-in-name-only may call upon Jesus, “Lord, Lord!”, but they insist that Jesus be a different kind of Messiah, a different kind of Savior, one made in their own image and likeness.  This has happened throughout history.  In the first century, the Church was ravaged by a movement that rejected the divinity of Christ.  Even many bishops promoted that false teaching.  We are far less theologically sophisticated today, because now it is in vogue to make Jesus a Savior of inclusion and diversity who carries a pride flag instead of a cross.  It’s this Gospel passage playing out in 2023.  We can’t accept one part of discipleship (that is, the correct profession of faith) while rejecting the other (that is, living the right way).  Well, you can.  But you can’t do so while claiming to be a disciple of Jesus.  And if we attempt that false discipleship then we’d better get ready for a rebuke and a new name: “Get behind me, Satan!”