22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A: Harsh words, sad thoughts?

Harsh words, sad thoughts?

“If anyone wants to come after me…”
Matthew 16:21-27

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

GOSPEL REFLECTION
Matthew 16:21-27

The Jews of Jesus’ time lived in expectation of a better world, the “century to come,” full of peace and justice. Basing themselves on Ezekiel 49, the rabbis announced for the last days,” a miraculous transformation of the earth. They assured that in the days of the Messiah, Palestine will be transformed into a garden and the gardens will become forests. The soil’s fertility will be multiplied by thousands. There will be abundance for all, and all goods abound, as in the heavenly period of the beginning.

The apostles also cultivated these hopes. They were convinced that the coming of the Kingdom of God was imminent. They have realized that their master was the Christ, the long-awaited “Son of David.” They had followed him to see their dreams of glory realized. The only question which, according to them, was still pending was to determine who would be entitled to the first places (Mk 9:34). 

It is in the context of these expectations that the first of the three announcements of the Passion, found in the Gospel, is placed. In the middle of his public life, Jesus is aware of having to decisively correct the convictions of his disciples. He does not want them to follow him lolling in vain illusions. To avoid any ambiguity, he openly declares that he is not walking towards triumph, but he is going to Jerusalem to suffer a lot, to be killed, and be raised again on the third day (v. 21). 

The human logic cannot but feel upset in front of such a proposal. The disciples cannot understand because they learned from the scribes that the Messiah cannot die. It was taught to them that, at his coming, the righteous who lie in their graves will rise to take part in the joy of his Kingdom, and Peter, in the name of all reacts (vv. 32-33). He is not afraid of sacrifices. One day he’ll be able to give proof of risking also his life if necessary (Jn 18:10), but he is not willing to commit himself to an absurd project. He does not accept to stand on a road that leads straight to failure. He would like that Jesus also should know it and change his mind.

The scene that follows is very significant and realistic. Peter takes the Master apart, as to cheer him up in a moment of despair. It is as if he makes him understand that, in a moment of confusion, it is understandable that an unfortunate phrase may also escape. 

The reaction of Jesus to the attempt to dissuade him from his path is hard, almost irritating: “Get behind me, Satan,” says our text, but the translation is not exact. Jesus does not intend to dismiss Peter, but to put him on the right path. “Get behind me”—he says— “follow my steps, do not try to precede me, as one who claims to lead the way. This is drawn by the Father and you Peter make a proposal that comes from worldly wisdom, from human foolishness that is senseless in God’s eyes.”

Peter is not committing a simple mistake. He is moving in the direction opposite to that of the Lord. He is acting just like Satan who tried to convince Jesus to focus on the domain, on the conquest of power. He had led him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, saying, “All this I will give you, if you kneel down and worship me.” But Jesus had decidedly reacted: “Be off, Satan” (Mt 4:8-10). Now the same temptation—advanced by Peter—cannot but be responded with the same hardness. 

The scene described in today’s Gospel forms a diptych with that of last Sunday. Simon had been named by Jesus as the living stone of the Church because he had received the revelation of the Father, had accepted His plan of salvation and had professed his faith in the Son of the living God. Now he becomes a stumbling block because he lets himself be guided by human reasoning, which aims for glory, successes, honors which are obstacles in the path of the Master and his disciples.

After having rebuked Peter, Jesus turns to all (vv. 24-27) and unequivocally puts forward his demands. There is no attempt to mitigate them, to make them more acceptable. If the Master has chosen to give life and if “the disciple is not above the master” (Mt 10:24), the path will have to be the same.

Three imperatives characterize the radicality of a choice that does not admit delays nor second thoughts:“Deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me.” 

Deny yourself means you stop thinking about yourself. It is the reversal of the principles in this worldgoverning relations between people. It is the rejection of those that all believe to be positive stimuli because they push to action: the pursuit of one’s own interest, the will to achieve gratification, acknowledgments, and benefits. Even in the purest acts of love, there is often some veiled forms of selfishness and ambition.

The disciple of Christ is called, first of all, to give up any personal gain, even the spiritual one. He does not do good to accumulate merits in heaven, to take a step up in spiritual progress. He acts thinking only about his brother and sister. He does not minimally take into consideration the positive impacts that the good works have on his person. He loves freely, in pure loss, as does the Father.

The second imperative, take up your cross, does not refer to the need to patiently endure the small or big tribulations of life, even less, the exaltation of pain as a means to please God. The Christian does not seek to suffer, but to love. 

The cross is the sign of love and of total gift. To carry it after Christ means to follow the way he has trodden to offer one’s life for his same ideals, confront, if necessary, also persecutions and death to remain faithful to the Gospel. “Carry the cross” who sacrifices himself to do good, to make someone happy.

The third imperative, follow me, does not mean “take me as a model,” but share my choice, take part in my project, bet your life on love, together with me.

The concluding verses (vv. 25-27) present three reasons with which Jesus tries to convince his disciple to accept the three difficult conditions he has just put forward.

The first: the one who gives his own life, actually, does not lose, but gains it (v. 25). Who holds tight in their own hands the grain of wheat, who consumes it for himself and hides it, will only dissipate it. The only one who has the courage to lose it, throwing it into the ground, “preserves” it, “recovers” it. It also happens with life: to earn it “one must lose it.” It is necessary to expend it for the brothers and sisters. 

The second reason (v. 26): the life of this world passes quickly. It is transient, fragile, and precarious; it is not worth clinging desperately to it as if it were eternal. Here the numerous sapiential reflections on the transience of life ring out: “You allow me to live but a short span; before you, all my years are nothing. Human existence is a mere whiff of breath. Humans are mere shadows that go about relentlessly. Being but a breath they toil and rake in wealth, not knowing who will take it next” (Ps 39:6-7).

The third reason (v. 27): the ultimate reward. The scene of judgment occurs often in the Gospel of Matthew. It is not as a future threat, but as an indication of the wise choices to be done in the present. What can one avail to present to God at the end of life? Certainly not the money accumulated, the pleasures enjoyed, nor awards and career earned. At the end, the Lord will not look at the titles of honor that we will be able to put in front of our name, but the works of love that will follow the name. 

When the spotlights that dazzled the scene of this world will be turned off, and when the deceptive glitters of idols that enchanted and seduced many persons are extinguished, then only the light of God will shine and the true value of each person will appear.

READ:  You must discern the will of God:  what is good, what pleases, what is perfect.

REFLECT:  God’s will—what is good, perfect, pleasing. This is our life’s aim. We need to discern it always to hit the mark.

PRAY:  We are aware of how we often miss the mark:  our sins.  Let us aim to do what’s more positive so we would really be praising God.

ACT:  Ponder on the difference between being really discerning and merely discriminating.

Fernando Armellini
Italian missionary and biblical scholar