Cycle B - Year I:

12 September 2021: Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading: Isaiah 50:5-9

Second Reading: James 2:14-18

Gospel: Please Read Mark 8:27-35

"To take up our cross...!"

The Gospel proclamation on the twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time tests how well we know our Lord Jesus Christ, and challenges our commitment to be His followers.

On their way to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks His disciples this crucial question: "Who do people say that I am, and who do you say that I am?"

Always quick to react, Peter answers by professing that Jesus is truly the Christ. Now, no mortal being could have revealed this truth to Peter, but only God Himself. It was through faith that Peter grasped who Jesus truly was. Thus, Peter has the distinction as the first apostle to recognize Jesus as the Anointed One, meaning Messiah or Christ. (Because "Christ" is the Greek word for the Hebrew word for Messiah.)

So, what is FAITH? Well, faith is not just believing but trusting in the Lord. Peter believes and trusts that Jesus is the Messiah.

On a surface level, Peter gets Jesus' identity right. But when our Lord begins to speak about His suffering on the cross, Peter objects and refuses to accept Jesus' prediction of His passion.

Let us understand that the disciples were excited for a Messiah, but not a suffering Messiah. They were captivated by the Truth about Jesus, but they were reluctant to hear the whole of it. They were thrilled about the idea of new life and renewal, but they were slow to understand and walk the narrow path to the Truth. In other words, they were ready for anything Jesus preaches except the message of suffering.

The response of Jesus to Peter's objection to a suffering Messiah was rather hard. Jesus normally reserves such harsh words for the Sadducees and Pharisees. It is not every disciple that gets called "Satan" by Christ. Now, the word "satan" is Hebrew which means "accuser", the one who leads away from the way of God. Thus, by addressing Peter as "Satan", Jesus does not allow anyone to lead Him away from His Father's mission. For Jesus decided to make it clear what it will mean as His followers: "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."

What do we make of the Gospel incident this Sunday?

The Lord tests each one of us today with the same question He asked the first disciples: "Who do you say that I am?" Like Peter we can also be quick in answering that Jesus is our Lord and Messiah. But our Lord Jesus challenges us to go deeper into the very roots of our faith through personal commitment, meaning we must witness our profession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah with our actual life situations, including the struggles and suffering.

As Christians our love for God will approach perfection in proportion to our willingness to suffer for Him and for our neighbor, especially during these very difficult times of the pandemic when many people are suffering and in need of our Christian charity and love. Of course, we do not go looking for suffering; we all suffer enough during this pandemic. But we must embrace suffering when God asks us to, as He Himself embraced His redemptive suffering on the cross for our sake.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!