Sunday Gospel Reflection, September 3, 2023: Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself...

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself…

Do we know what we are getting ourselves into when we follow Christ? 

    The prophet Jeremiah seems to have had certain expectations about what it would be like to be the mouthpiece of God, expectations that were not, in the end, fulfilled: You duped me, O Lord! Jeremiah cries out after a humiliating night in the stocks. Yet, although he believes he will speak in God’s name no more, Jeremiah cannot help himself: but then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones. Jeremiah had no idea how difficult the road would be when he was called by the Lord; the role is more than he anticipated. But, like the psalmist in Psalm 63, Jeremiah still depends on the Lord; he is still drawn to the Lord: O God, you are my God whom I seek; for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts. Nothing else sustains humankind; we can only depend on one being to give us life. The very fact that Jeremiah calls out to the Lord suggests that Jeremiah recognizes where his strength comes from. Ultimately, Jeremiah, like the psalmist, glorifies the Lord, blessing him while he lives. 

   Jesus’ disciples don’t seem to be ready for the truth Jesus shares with them in Matthew’s Gospel, namely, that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly and be killed and on the third day be raised. Peter, in particular, responds badly: God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you, he says to Jesus. But salvation comes on God’s terms, not our own; we tend to define salvation too narrowly, thereby threatening it. Thus, we must, as Jesus tells the disciples, take up our cross, and follow him. Our cross is not always well-defined; we don’t always know what it will demand of us. Yet we must, as Paul tells the Romans, offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, discerning God’s will and subjecting ourselves to it, participating in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and thereby becoming a conduit of his grace, which requires ongoing transformation, the renewal of our minds. That is, we must remain open to God, and to God’s will, for, if not, there can be no transformation, no renewal of our minds. 

   In baptism, we take up our cross, though thereafter we might not always be pleased by the prospect. And yet, in fact, we sign on for whatever is necessary. Our cross will continue to be transformed with us, in an ongoing way, as we are transformed, daily. When we surrender to God’s will, as Jeremiah has, as Paul encourages the Romans to do, as Jesus insists he himself must do, it can be hard. The call we’ve accepted, the promises we’ve made, do not mean that all will go as we think it ought. If we have accepted the Lord, we will find ourselves in situations that are less than comfortable. Yet if we truly accept his will and follow, his name will burn in our hearts and in our bones until we call upon that name, and with exultant lips, praise God! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel, August 30. 2020: Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself...

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself…

Does your faith involve the whole of your being?

  The prophet Jeremiah at times has issues with God’s methods:  You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped, he says.  God calls Jeremiah as a prophet but God doesn’t give Jeremiah his whole message immediately, and Jeremiah suffers rejection because of it.  And yet, when Jeremiah decides he’s done – I say to myself I will say his name no more – he realizes that his bond with the Lord nevertheless continues, a bond that is physical as well as spiritual:  God’s name becomes like fire burning in his heart, imprisoned in his bones.  Having opened himself to the love of God, Jeremiah continues to experience that love in his heart and flesh both, an experience that causes him to maintain his total commitment to the Lord in spite of himself.

  If we are, as Peter does in Matthew’s Gospel, to proclaim Jesus as the living God, then we need to mean it in the depth of our beings, and live accordingly, denying ourselves, abandoning any self-interest, recognizing that we belong utterly to God.  We live by the grace of God, we exist because of God alone, and so we must dedicate ourselves wholly to life in him, accepting the cross, surrendering all, physically and spiritually, to the Lord.  Paul reminds the Romans that they must offer their bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicating the whole of themselves to the love they are called to.  God created us whole, spirit and flesh, with a a capacity to know him and to love him.  Self-focus, self-interest, the flesh:  none of this has any place in that relationship. If we were thus transformed by the renewal of our minds, we would constantly echo the refrain of Psalm 63: my soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.  It is an expression of our desire for God that consumes both spirit and flesh, and for a life in which no aspect of our lives is not engaged by God.  Faith has to involve the whole of who we are, the entirety of our being.  May we too long at every moment to experience the presence of the God like a fire burning in our hearts, that we might know the depths of his constant love.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, September 3, 2017: Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself...

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself…

Jesus gave his all – will you?

  The prophet Jeremiah has a hard time dealing with the circumstances God has placed him in:  You duped me, Lord, he says.  Too caught up in his own sorrow and physical pain at having been rejected by his own people, Jeremiah is conflicted, vacillating between total commitment and a wall of objections.  But the spiritual struggle wins out over the physical one, and Jeremiah ultimately accepts to continue to proclaim God’s word because it is like fire burning in his heart – a passion for the mission God has given him, ensuring the commitment he needs.  Psalm 63 encapsulates this passion:  for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts, the psalmist says.  Jeremiah knows that God is his help; he will be upheld by the right hand of the Lord.

  In Matthew’s Gospel, Peter is likewise conflicted.  Having just proclaimed Jesus the Son of the living God, he now refuses to accept the vision of suffering Jesus places before him:  God forbid, Lord!  No such thing shall ever happen to you. Peter doesn’t want Jesus to suffer, and he’s probably not too keen on embracing his own cross, as Jesus asks all of the disciples to do.  Peter is unwilling to surrender control, to surrender all to Christ’s love for him; it will take time before he fully grasps the kind of commitment Jesus is requiring of him, and the cross and mission that are his.

  Modeling his own life after that of Jesus, Paul will likewise urge the Romans to similar commitment:  offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, he says.  Embrace the cross, invest yourselves entirely in your identity as Christians, and remain faithful to God in spite of persecution.  A renewal of mind is necessary, he tells them; the Romans can’t be successful in their faith if they dedicate themselves only partially to the cross of Christ.  Like Jeremiah, like Peter, like the Romans, we too are called to total commitment to God’s will, called to give all we have as we take up that cross and follow Jesus.  Are we ready?

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle