Gospel Mk 8:27-35
Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said in reply,”John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Christ.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “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 and that of the gospel will save it.”
Homily
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I got his letter as I was about to begin writing the homily for this weekend and it immediately inspired what this homily is about.
The story we know very well. Jesus asks the twelve what people are saying about him.The disciples give him all the answers that people have expressed. Jesus then asks the disciples for their opinion. Peter in the name of all the disciples tells Jesus; “You are the Christ.”. This is in fact a defining moment in the life of the disciples. Their time with Jesus has had a very good result. Their intuition about Jesus is correct. Because of this Jesus decides to deepen his instruction to his disciples so that they come to a deeper understanding of Jesus and his purpose. “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.” These are hard words and Peter cannot accept them so he takes Jesus aside and tries to turn him aside from the future that he has described. Jesus reacts very harshly because Peter is acting in the same way that Satan did during the temptations in the desert.
At the end of those temptations we are told that Satan withdrew for a while. Jesus seems to see Peter’s intervention as Satan returning after a while to try to turn Jesus away from his purpose once again and so Jesus reacts to Peter’s intervention by calling Peter Satan for his way of thinking is not God’s but that of human beings. “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” The first reading gives us a good insight into Jesus’ thinking. Christ so loved the world that “he set his face like flint and gave his back to those who beat him.” Jesus was determined, come what may, to do what had to be done so that all peoples would come to experience and understand God’s tremendous love for humanity, and that humanity could be liberated from all that enslaves it. Jesus moreover called those who followed him, the disciples to imitate him. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Like it was to Peter, this is a hard saying and many turn away but it is in setting our faces like flint and letting our backs be beaten for the sake of liberating all from what enslaves us that we find life. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”
This is in fact how the saints lived. Mons. Romero set his face like flint and gave his back to be beaten to liberate the poor and the destitute of his country in spite of the Satans who tried to turn him aside. St. Maxmillian Kolbe set his face like flint and gave his life for his fellow prisoner. The great St. Francis had to set his face like flint before the attempts of his rich merchant Father to turn him away from his vocation. In our lives also there will be Satans trying to turn us aside from following the dictates of the Gospel; trying to stop us from the struggle for justice. We too must set our faces like flint and give our backs to be beaten if necessary for the sake of the gospel and for the truth. Only in this way can we be true disciples of Jesus. As we thank God for the saints who show us that it is possible to set our faces like flint may we be granted the graces to do so ourselves.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, you ask your disciples to take up their crosses every day and follow you. We all want to be your disciples but the prospect of the daily cross frightens us. Give us the grace we pray to overcome our fears and to be secure in your love. Give us the grace to speak the truth, to work for justice and peace so that your Kingdom will manifest itself more clearly in our world. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our mother and Jesus, your Son. Amen
