Readings: Is 50:5-9a, Jas 2:14-18; Mk 8:27-35
The message in today’s readings may be more important today than ever before. I say this because throughout history people have suffered greatly. We may think that even the more aristocratic, by today’s standards, did not have had it so easy. Certainly, by comparison to the average person of their day, the aristocratic had it easy, but by comparison to the average person of today, perhaps it was not as enviable as it might appear.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus tells us not only of His own impending suffering and death, but also that if we want to come after Him we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. Peter did not like the idea that our Lord would have to suffer and die, but Jesus pointed out that Peter’s thinking was not in accordance with God’s way of thinking. I always smile when I read this because Jesus tells Peter he was thinking as human beings do, not as God does. Well, Peter is human, how else is he supposed to think?
This poses a great challenge for all of us. We are human, but it is clear from the context that our Lord is telling us that we need to think as God thinks, not as human beings think. How is this possible? First of all, we are made in the image and likeness of God, so the capacity for thinking and acting in a divine manner are already present. However, it is through faith and baptism that we are able to think and operate on the divine level.
Through baptism we have been raised up to become children of God who share in the divine nature and the divine life. This is true whether we live in accordance with this dignity or not. Therefore, as we see in the second reading, faith is what allows us to act as true children of God. Neither faith nor baptism alone will be able to save us. Both are absolutely necessary and without them salvation is not possible. However, we need to put into practice through faith what we have become through baptism.
St. James tells us that faith without works is dead. More than that, he says that it is through works that faith is demonstrated. We can act on our faith in many different ways, but when it comes right down to it, no matter what we do, we run the risk of pride or selfishness creeping into our works. To the degree that we perform these actions in a selfish way, we take away from the merit of what we do.
In the Gospel, our Lord also tells us that if we wish to save our life we must lose our life. This does not mean that we need to be martyred or die performing some good work. Rather, it means that we need to die to self, that is, remove the selfishness from whatever we do. This has never been easy, but when we live in the most selfish society in human history, it has become exponentially more difficult. This is why I said at the beginning that this message is more important today than ever before.
It is not easy to suffer selfishly. While we can compare ourselves to others and think we are suffering more or suffering better, this kind of pride is not as common as when we compare the good we do with that of others. Suffering has a way of removing the façade and the pretense; in the midst of suffering we see who we really are. In the performance of good works, we can convince ourselves of how wonderful we are, but in the suffering, things do not appear so rosy.
In the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah speaks of the Messiah, the Christ, and says that He did not rebel and did not turn back in the midst of His suffering. The Prophet also tells us that the suffering forced upon the Christ would not shame or disgrace Him, even though what would be inflicted upon Him was both shameful and disgraceful. It is through Jesus’ sufferings that He demonstrated His fidelity and brought about our salvation.
The message of suffering is not one most of us like to hear. Most people do everything in their power to shield themselves from as much suffering as possible. Where we appear to be heading will bring with it great amounts of suffering from which there will be no escape. For those with faith, we need to see this as our opportunity to demonstrate our fidelity to our Lord. We will have an abundance of opportunity to practice charity to others. This is your hour: learn to think like God, take up your cross, and follow Jesus!
Fr. Altier’s column appears regularly in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly published in St. Paul, Minn. For information about subscribing to The Wanderer, please visit www.thewandererpress.com.
