Homily for 22d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
22d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sept. 3, 2023
Matt 16: 21-27
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
The Fountains, Tuckahoe, N.Y.

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt 16: 24).

Last week Jesus blessed Simon Peter for recognizing him as the Messiah and Son of God, and he gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven (Matt 16:16-19).  Today, in the very next passage in Matthew’s Gospel, he calls Peter “Satan” because Peter’s thinking not in a heavenly way but an earthly way.  If Peter had his way, Jesus Messiah, Jesus Christ, wouldn’t undergo death and be raised to life for our redemption (16:21).

"Get behind me, Satan!" (James Tissot)

We can say in Peter’s defense that he had no grasp of God’s plan and Jesus’ mission.  We can also say that he hasn’t been paying close attention!

Sometimes we don’t either, regardless of how much we’ve read the Scriptures and how many homilies we’ve heard—or preached!  Jesus doesn’t hide it from us:  If we want to follow him into eternal life, we 1st have to suffer like him; we have to die to ourselves, which he likens to crucifixion (16:24), the most painful and degrading punishment the Roman Empire could devise.  We can’t base our lives on what most people think is important and valuable, “thinking not as God does but as human beings do” (16:23).

Suffering, pain, and sorrow are unavoidable parts of the human condition.  It’s a sign of God’s love for us that his own beloved Son, Jesus, should have such experiences:  “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), and “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might … have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Are we ready, willing, and able to see our suffering, pain, and sorrow as our own share in Christ’s cross, as our way of walking with him, following him, toward redemption, toward eternal life?  even toward contributing toward the redemption of the world, according to St. Paul’s mysterious teaching in Col 1:24:  “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the Church.”

Writing to the Christians at Rome, Paul urges them to worship God spiritually (12:1).  Many ancient religions worshiped God by offering physical sacrifices:  oxen, sheep, goats, incense, fruit, or grain.  Some, like some of the Jews’ neighbors in the time of the Judges and kings of Israel and like the Aztecs in the New World even offered human sacrifices.  St. Paul, instead, tells us to offer ourselves spiritually.  We offer our bodies “as a living sacrifice,” not being slain and burned on an altar, but handing over to God, thru Christ, all our suffering, pain, and sorrow—illness, bodily aches, personal loss, misunderstandings, etc.—and all our acts of self-denial by which we attend to the needs and cares of others rather than our own selfish interests.

A parent who cares for a sick child; a driver who practices courtesy on the road; a worker who diligently and honestly carries out his duties; a student who does her work seriously; spouses who are faithful to each other and who refrain from the use of contraception; a parishioner who takes an active role in his or her parish; rising early to come to Mass and fasting for an hour before Holy Communion—these are some of the ways of dying to oneself, accepting the cross of Jesus, “thinking as God does and not as human beings do.”