No Cross, No Crown (Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Jeremiah 20:7-9,
Romans 12:1-2,
Matthew 16: 21-27.
Reflection
Dear sisters and brothers,
Let us read the Word of God for this Sunday. The text is taken from the Gospel of Matthew (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.”
In this reflection, we reflect on how we move from the confusion of Peter to the focus of Jesus, from the cross of our lives to the crown of our heavenly lives by following Christ Jesus with our conduct in our lives on this earth.
1. Peter, the Confused
Last Sunday we reflected from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 16:13-20), that Simon Peter recognised Jesus and confessed to be the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
The same Peter, who recognised and confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, had a Popular Jewish belief in the time of Jesus that expected a Messiah who would bring instant glory to Israel in terms of military success, wealth and prosperity. The disciples too shared this popular belief.
So, when Peter heard Jesus announce that he must first endure the cross, he figured that Jesus must have made a mistake. So, immediately Peter said to Jesus in private: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
What was Jesus’ reply?
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.”
The confession of Peter, Jesus to be the Messiah, earned Jesus’ recognition as ‘Rock.’ In other words, the demonstration of faith earned him the name Peter, ‘Rock’ and the incident was a highpoint in the development of the mission of Jesus.
Jesus thought that the disciples understood his mission rightly, so Jesus was confident to reveal about his passion, death, and resurrection.
Peter was confused between two beliefs.
The first one is Peter’s popular belief including the other Israelites that Jesus, the military messiah, would liberate them from the Roman rule.
But it was not true. Jesus did not come on a horse. He came on a donkey. Peter had a wrong belief system about the messiah.
Peter imagined that Jesus, the Messiah was a King, who would fight against the Roman rule to liberate the Israelite and to establish the kingdom of Israel. Peter firmly believed it. This was the way he was taught from his birth. He was not wrong.
The second one was not in Peter’s belief system. Peter never thought that Jesus, the Messiah, came to the world for the salvation of humanity and to establish the kingdom of love. Jesus, the Messiah was a new revelation for Peter.
Peter could not accept Jesus, the Messiah, who would suffer, die and rise to give life for all.
Secondly,
Peter strongly believed that Jesus would establish the kingdom of power and authority without any struggle and pain, because he was taken up by the miracles after miracles performed by Jesus, the Messiah.
Jesus openly broke the disciples’ belief system by saying about his suffering, death and resurrection.
It was a new start for the disciples to understand who the Messiah is, not for Israel alone but for whole humanity.
Peter moved from the confused to understanding.
Now, Peter understood what Jesus meant by when Jesus replied to Peter (Matthew 16:17-19):
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,
but my heavenly Father.
And so, I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
2. Jesus, the Focused:
Jesus was very clear about his mission.
Jesus knew that he was sent by his Father to the world to suffer, to die and to rise from the sinful humanity, to reconcile humanity with His Father from the world of death, out of His own love (John 3:16).
Jesus sharply said to Peter that he was an obstacle for his mission.
Why did Jesus say it?
Peter’s thinking was narrow minded.
Jesus’ thinking was broad minded.
Peter’s thinking was human thinking.
Jesus’ thinking was Divine thinking.
Peter was not focused on what his purpose was.
Jesus was focused on what his purpose was.
Peter thought that Jesus has come for him and his people.
Jesus came for the whole humanity.
Peter wanted liberation, which was temporary.
Jesus came for salvation, in turn salvation gave eternal life for all, who believed in Jesus, the Messiah.
Peter’s mind was confused.
Jesus was clear in his focus.
Peter thought liberation could be achieved without struggle. It was an easy goal. It was an overnight winning for him.
Jesus knew that salvation could be achieved with his passion, death, and resurrection. It was not easy for Jesus. It was a long struggle for Jesus till death on the Cross.
There was no turning back for Jesus.
Jesus followed the instructions from His Father in silence and in solitude.
Jesus was strengthened when he thought of the crown.
Jesus knew that no cross, no crown.
Here, arises a question:
Do we come to Jesus to lead an easygoing life or do we come to Jesus to take on his cross?
3. No Cross, No Crown:
We come to Jesus to say no to the false promises of “all crown and no cross.”
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.”
Jesus turned but not angry.
Jesus turned but not irritated.
Jesus turned and called the disciple from ‘Rock’ to ‘Satan’.
It conveys a meaningful message to each one of us, the follower of Jesus Christ.
a. Rock:
Rock is so strong.
Rock is developed or grown for a long time.
Rock has gone through struggle to be what it is today or what we see.
Jesus was convinced when He said to Peter ‘Rock’, who replied you are the Messiah, the living God, was from God not flesh and blood (man).
b. Satan:
But Peter unknowingly denies the fact that he is ruled my human (Satan) desire.
Satan is fragile.
It is similar to when Jesus reminds Peter: “You are thinking not as God does,
but as human beings do.”
Human thinking is: “all crown and no cross.”
Human thought was that Jesus, the Messiah should wage a war after gathering people in the name of kingdom proclamation.
A war involves with killing and hurting thousands to give power and authority to a few.
Power and authority come from violence, satanic thinking.
Peter wanted that kind of messiah in Jesus.
Jesus contradicts this understanding about himself.
Jesus came to this world as ‘love incarnate.’
Now, comes a question: Is it possible to achieve the crown without the cross?
No.
Never.
Impossible.
I personally think that the crown comes with risks, sufferings, pains, struggles, difficulties, passions, dying to self, giving away what binds us to enjoy the minute of the crown.
To achieve something special, we need to do something special.
Success is the end.
Struggle is the way to that end.
Pain is joyful when you gain that no one could.
Abraham did not become ‘Father of Faith’ in a moment.
Joseph did not become the ‘PM of Egypt’ easily.
David did not become the ‘King of Israel’ without running alone for his life.
Mary did not give birth to Jesus without abuse.
The apostles did not preach the Goodness without giving their lives.
Christianity never reached the global without persecutions.
In the past, there was none who achieved the crown without passion.
In the present, there is no one who achieves the crown without pain.
In the future, there will be no one who will achieve the crown without struggle.
We have difficulties for our survival during this lockdown.
We struggle to breath when we wear masks.
We are scared to touch.
We are scared to go out.
We thought life is easygoing.
We thought that we have answers for everything.
We thought that we can cure all sicknesses and illnesses.
We struggle to survive without a job.
We run to another country to live because of political pressures and instability.
Nothing comes on a golden plate.
Our life is not safe.
Life is threatened every second.
Life is a suffering, pain, difficulty when we want to get special in our lives.
Nothing is possible without pain.
Everything is possible with hurts.
It did not all go well with Jesus.
He still had to endure the cross.
It did not all go well with Mary.
A sword of sorrow still pierced her soul.
It did not all go well with the countless men and women saints who have gone before us.
Why then should it all go well with you and me?
In the face of disappointment, bereavement, sickness, ingratitude and failure, our faith response should be, not to question “Why me?” but to recognise that these crosses are the necessary condition for our future glory.
The cross is inequitable in our lives.
The crown is the end result.
4. We, the Followers:
For the same reason, Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me
must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
A beautiful word from Jesus.
Jesus did not say to his disciples that you worship me,
But Jesus said to them that you follow me.
Worship is the end.
Following is the life-style.
What do we follow in Jesus?
There was a person, who lost his mother.
His father married for a second time.
His step mother made his life miserable.
He went to the Church.
He stood in front of the cross.
He spoke to the cross all that he was going through with tears in his eyes which kept rolling on his cheeks.
He stood for some time.
He realised that there was no response from the cross.
He turned back walking towards the entrance struggling to contain his sorrow.
There was a voice.
It said to him, “My son, I understand you. I have gone through it before you. I struggled to save myself. I ran from country to country. Some people were ready to stone me. Some people were ready to kill me. My own friend betrayed me. My close friend denied me not once but thrice. My disciples ran away from me when I was arrested. I went through pain. I was nailed on the cross. I was pierced. One thief ridiculed me while I was on the cross struggling to breath. I died on the cross in front of my own mother and beloved friend. I understand you. Come close to me and follow me. I was risen on the third day with all glory.”
The voice stopped.
He decided to follow Christ Jesus.
He is a Bishop in one of the diocese in India.
This story sums up why we need to follow Christ Jesus in our lives.
We think that we struggle, we suffer, we have pains, we have difficulties.
We think that always there is a cross in our lives.
Jesus’ words are miraculous.
Jesus says, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
The story that we have just heard, proves the point that what Jesus said is true.
We may think that we are in lockdown, we are in struggle, we are in pain, we are in difficulties, we live an uncomfortable life, we have no other way.
Jesus was locked down for three days before the glory of the resurrection as we are in the world at present.
But there is a hope that our cross will bring goodness in our lives as Jeremiah says (Jeremiah 20:7-9):
“You seduced me, LORD, and I let myself be seduced;
you were too strong for me, and you prevailed.
All day long I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me.
Whenever I speak, I must cry out,
violence and outrage I proclaim;
The word of the LORD has brought me
reproach and derision all day long.
I say I will not mention him,
I will no longer speak in his name.
But then it is as if fire is burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding back,
I cannot!”
We need to keep our hope, faith and love, so that we can say: “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?”
We may have achievements, successes, positions and money but it does not give us any happy life, it does not give us peace of mind.
Could we save our lives from a tiny deadly satanic virus even though we had scientific knowledge, whole lot of money?
No.
Super power countries are on their knees.
We can gain something special in life when we follow Christ Jesus in our lives.
We need to follow Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of the living God, who underwent his passion, death, and resurrection, who understands us, and who is with us till the end of age.
Along with it, the text says: “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.”
It is said that Jesus will repay everyone (all humanity) according to his/her conduct.
5. Conduct:
Conduct means: ‘the manner in which a person behaves, especially in a particular place or situation.’
A conduct can be good.
A conduct can be evil.
We can sometimes be rock in our good conduct in our lives.
We can sometimes be satan in our evil conduct in our lives.
Good brings goodness.
Evil brings badness.
What is the conduct for the follower of Christ Jesus?
Saint Paul writes (Romans 12:1-2):
“I urge you therefore, brothers,
by the mercies of God,
to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and pleasing to God,
your spiritual worship.
Do not conform yourselves to this age
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Saint Paul summarises what is the conduct for the followers of Christ Jesus.
A Conduct is offering our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God as our spiritual worship.
Spiritual worship happens when we do not conform ourselves to this world (evil) and situation, when we are transformed by the renewal of our mind, when we discern what is the will of God, what is good, what pleases God and being perfect (Rock) in following Christ Jesus personally and intentionally.
Yes,
dear sisters and brothers,
When we are confused in our lives, every moment of our lives becomes the cross.
When we are focused in our lives, every cross becomes a step stone for the crown.
Following Christ Jesus, we learn from him what the cross and the crown means in our lives.
By following and learning from Jesus, we become good, pleasing and perfect with his help.
We move from the confusion of Peter to the focus of Jesus, from the cross of our lives to the crown of our heavenly lives by following Christ Jesus with our conduct in our lives on this earth.
May the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen…
