Upcoming Sunday Gospel
Readings
Sunday 3 September
2017
Matthew
16:21-28
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem
and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him
aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never
happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are
a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but
on human things.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my
followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For
those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life
for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole
world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? “For
the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then
he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some
standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in
his kingdom.”
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Oh
the irony! Moments before this Gospel,
Peter got it so right. Now he is so
wrong. Last Sunday’s Gospel had Jesus
calling Peter “rock.” This Gospel has
Jesus calling Peter “Satan.” What
changed? Simply put, Peter thought he
knew better than Jesus how things should unfold. How we need to hear this admonition. I say that because often times we focus on
human wisdom, neglect the wisdom of God, and thus get in the way of God.
We
do so chiefly because we don’t want suffering.
We want any other way than the way of the cross. But it is the way of the cross that leads to
resurrection. Jesus reminds us of this
by showing that the cross is not optional, not for him and not for us. But the defeat is not final. The cross is never the last word. Resurrection and life always win! We can embrace this more than the disciples
could, for we are on this side of Easter.
Each Sunday we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection, which gives us the
confidence that life always wins over death, that resurrection is the fate of
those who follow Christ on the way of the cross.
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Father Timothy
Alleman
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