34 Then Yeshua called the crowd and his talmidim to him and told them, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him say ‘No’ to himself, take up his execution-stake, and keep following me. 35 For whoever wants to save his own life will destroy it, but whoever destroys his life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will save it.
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Peter … began to rebuke him. (Mark 8:32)
Peter has a striking insight and dares to express it to Jesus. “You are the Messiah!” he affirms. In Matthew’s account, Jesus calls Simon “blessed” for being open to divine revelation (Matthew 16:13-19, 17). However, Jesus doesn’t let Peter bask in this moment. Right away, he begins to describe what being God’s Anointed means: suffering and death for Jesus, and for his followers as well.
Peter’s reaction is swift and understandable: horror. Jesus in turn rebukes him for thinking like a human being rather than thinking like God. Peter has begun to see things from God’s perspective, and that should change everything.
Next, Jesus calls Peter to leadership. But Peter has to understand that leading doesn’t mean lording it over others but laying down his life for them (Mark 10:42-45). He can’t be a leader like this based on his own strength and wisdom. He must lay these things at Christ’s feet and receive God’s gifts of a new heart, a new mind, and a new way of life.
One way of taking up our cross is to put aside our natural but fallen ways of thinking and ask God to help us see things as he does. The obvious example here is that suffering and death aren’t the ultimate evil; far worse are sin and failure to do God’s will.
What other ways of thinking might you need to adjust? Perhaps the judgment that this (career or security) is very important or that (taking care of home and children or keeping church laws) is not so important. Perhaps the commonsense but inadequate approach is that I can’t love others unless I first love myself; that my needs, then the needs of my family, come before the claims of the poor; or that material needs are more fundamental than spiritual ones.
Spend a few moments today asking God to show you one way in which you need to change your mind so that you can make room for his way of thinking.
“Father, open up to me the riches of your wisdom. I want to see everything and everyone as you see them.” Amen!
Isaiah 50:4 Adonai Elohim has given me
the ability to speak as a man well taught,
so that I, with my words,
know how to sustain the weary.
Each morning he awakens my ear
to hear like those who are taught.
5 Adonai Elohim has opened my ear,
and I neither rebelled nor turned away.
6 I offered my back to those who struck me,
my cheeks to those who plucked out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
7 For Adonai Elohim will help.
This is why no insult can wound me.
This is why I have set my face like flint,
knowing I will not be put to shame.
8 My vindicator is close by;
let whoever dares to accuse me
appear with me in court!
Let whoever has a case against me step forward!
9 Look, if Adonai Elohim helps me,
who will dare to condemn me?
Here, they are all falling apart
like old, moth-eaten clothes.
Psalm 116:1 I love that Adonai heard
my voice when I prayed;
2 because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death were all around me,
Sh’ol’s constrictions held me fast;
I was finding only distress and anguish.
4 But I called on the name of Adonai:
“Please, Adonai! Save me!”
5 Adonai is merciful and righteous;
yes, our God is compassionate.
6 Adonai preserves the thoughtless;
when I was brought low, he saved me.8 Yes, you have rescued me from death,
my eyes from tears and my feet from falling.
9 I will go on walking in the presence of Adonai
in the lands of the living.
James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but has no actions to prove it? Is such “faith” able to save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food, 16 and someone says to him, “Shalom! Keep warm and eat hearty!” without giving him what he needs, what good does it do? 17 Thus, faith by itself, unaccompanied by actions, is dead.
18 But someone will say that you have faith and I have actions. Show me this faith of yours without the actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions!
Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion:
[Mass Readings:
1st Reading: Isaiah 50:4 Adonai Elohim has given me
the ability to speak as a man well taught,
so that I, with my words,
know how to sustain the weary.
Each morning he awakens my ear
to hear like those who are taught.
5 Adonai Elohim has opened my ear,
and I neither rebelled nor turned away.
6 I offered my back to those who struck me,
my cheeks to those who plucked out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
7 For Adonai Elohim will help.
This is why no insult can wound me.
This is why I have set my face like flint,
knowing I will not be put to shame.
8 My vindicator is close by;
let whoever dares to accuse me
appear with me in court!
Let whoever has a case against me step forward!
9 Look, if Adonai Elohim helps me,
who will dare to condemn me?
Here, they are all falling apart
like old, moth-eaten clothes.
Responsorial: Psalm 116:1 I love that Adonai heard
my voice when I prayed;
2 because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death were all around me,
Sh’ol’s constrictions held me fast;
I was finding only distress and anguish.
4 But I called on the name of Adonai:
“Please, Adonai! Save me!”
5 Adonai is merciful and righteous;
yes, our God is compassionate.
6 Adonai preserves the thoughtless;
when I was brought low, he saved me.8 Yes, you have rescued me from death,
my eyes from tears and my feet from falling.
9 I will go on walking in the presence of Adonai
in the lands of the living.
2nd Reading: James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but has no actions to prove it? Is such “faith” able to save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food, 16 and someone says to him, “Shalom! Keep warm and eat hearty!” without giving him what he needs, what good does it do? 17 Thus, faith by itself, unaccompanied by actions, is dead.
18 But someone will say that you have faith and I have actions. Show me this faith of yours without the actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions!
Gospel: Mark 8:27 Yeshua and his talmidim went on to the towns of Caesarea Philippi. On the way, he asked his talmidim, “Who are people saying I am?” 28 “Some say you are Yochanan the Immerser,” they told him, “others say Eliyahu, and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 “But you,” he asked, “who do you say I am?” Kefa answered, “You are the Mashiach.” 30 Then Yeshua warned them not to tell anyone about him. 31 He began teaching them that the Son of Man had to endure much suffering and be rejected by the elders, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers; and that he had to be put to death; but that after three days, he had to rise again. 32 He spoke very plainly about it. Kefa took him aside and began rebuking him. 33 But, turning around and looking at his talmidim, he rebuked Kefa. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said, “For your thinking is from a human perspective, not from God’s perspective!”
34 Then Yeshua called the crowd and his talmidim to him and told them, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him say ‘No’ to himself, take up his execution-stake, and keep following me. 35 For whoever wants to save his own life will destroy it, but whoever destroys his life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will save it.]
1. The first reading from Isaiah offers a prophetic foreshadowing of the passion of Jesus Christ. How would you describe the ways that Jesus has fulfilled this prophecy?
2. The first reading also provides insights into the mind of a man of faith, who in the midst of his suffering is still able to proclaim: “The Lord God is my help, therefore, I am not disgraced,” “I shall not be put to shame,” and “He is near who upholds my right.” When you experience difficulties and suffering, what role does your faith in Jesus Christ play in how you respond? What steps can you take to allow your faith to have a greater impact on your response?
3. The Responsorial Psalm speaks of how gracious and merciful and caring the Lord is in the midst of great “distress and sorrow.” In what ways are the words of this Psalm, like the first reading, those of hope and trust in the Lord? What were some times in your own life when the Lord “heard my voice in supplication” and “inclined his ear to me the day I called”?
4. In the second reading, James tells us that “faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” He goes on to say, “Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith from my works.” Why are works a demonstration of our faith? If you were put on trial to prove you are a Christian from your works, would there be enough evidence for a conviction?
5. The Catechism (no. 161) states that “Believing in Jesus Christ and in the one who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation . . . therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life ‘but he who endures to the end.’” How would you relate these words on the importance of faith to James’ words on the importance of works?
6. In the Gospel, Jesus speaks these words to his disciples and the crowd (and to us): “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” (Mark 8:35). What do you think these words mean and how do they apply to you?
7. The meditation provides additional insights on Mark 8:35 with these words: “One way of taking up our cross is to put aside our natural but fallen ways of thinking and ask God to help us see things as he does. The obvious example here is that suffering and death aren’t the ultimate evil; far worse are sin and failure to do God’s will.” The meditation also asks us to consider this: “What other ways of thinking might you need to adjust?” and then ends with these words: “Spend a few moments today asking God to show you one way in which you need to change your mind so that you can make room for his way of thinking.” How would you describe the “ways of thinking” that God may want you to adjust “so that you can make room for his way of thinking”?8. Take some time now to pray to God the Father for eyes to see things as he sees them, for ears to hear his voice leading you, and for the grace to act on his call for your life. Use the prayer at the end of the meditation as the starting point.
“Father, open up to me the riches of your wisdom. I want to see everything and everyone as you see them.” Amen!
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