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Gospel: Matthew 16: 21-27
Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
He turned and said to Peter,
“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples,
“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 will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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I spent the last year promoting World Youth Day, trying to convince young adults to join me in a pilgrimage to Portugal. I told them we’d celebrate Mass with Pope Francis and stay at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. It’d be an opportunity of a lifetime!
Once we landed in Portugal, the forty pilgrims who joined us were eager to know the details about what each day held. But we gave them one simple rule:
“Participate. Don’t anticipate.”
Had they known from the beginning that we’d be averaging 20,000 steps a day – and one day over 30,000, that some nights we’d only get a few precious hours of sleep, that one night we’d sleep outside on hard, rocky ground, and be eating hot dogs out of a can, then many of them might have said, “No way!”
Yet, in the end, every one of them said they’d do it all over again in a heartbeat; it was a life-changing experience. They just needed to follow the rule:
“Participate. Don’t anticipate.”
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In last week’s Gospel, Peter professed his faith in Jesus, saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” To which Jesus responded, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.”
However, just a few verses after Peter is declared the foundation of the Church, Jesus finds cause to rebuke him as we hear in today’s Gospel, “Get behind me, Satan!”
How does Peter go from being “rock” to “Satan”?
He was thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.
After Jesus reveals that he’s headed to Jerusalem where he’ll be crucified, Peter protests, saying, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you!”
I suspect Peter was not only afraid of losing his Lord; he was also afraid of losing his own life. “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you… or to me!”
That is what elicits such a harsh response from Jesus – Peter tries controlling the future.
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Christ’s command for Peter to, “get behind” him does not mean that Jesus wants him to leave; rather, he’s telling Peter to reassume the role of a disciple.
Disciples follow their Master. They don’t tell the Master where to go or what to do; they wait for instruction, ready to follow.
Much like we taught our pilgrims at World Youth Day, “Participate. Don’t anticipate.”
Peter learned his lesson. Humbled, he reassumes his role as disciple and gets behind the Lord.
Something tells me that also might’ve been the moment when Judas developed a plan-B. If Jesus’ words were true – if he really is going to be crucified – then he isn’t turning out to be the type of savior Judas had hoped for.
Judas saw influence, power, and riches in his future. Not a cross.
Secretly, Judas begins crafting alternative plans for the moment he reaches Jerusalem. He doesn’t get behind the Lord at all; mistakenly, he believes he’s two steps ahead.
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How often does this happen to us?
We shadowbox with the future. We make our own plan-B. We try controlling our destiny by getting two steps ahead.
“Do not worry about tomorrow,” Jesus says, “tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day are its own troubles” (Matthew 6:34).
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When they finally reach Jerusalem, the Lord is crucified as he predicted. But there were many things in store for Peter, which he never could have imagined.
Peter would become part of that circle of disciples to encounter the Risen Christ. That set his heart aflame. In fact, he was so transformed by that post-Cross experience that he’d spend the rest of his life telling the world!
Peter preached to thousands. He converted and baptized entire crowds on the spot. He led the Church on earth for three decades before being faced with his own cross.
And when it came, he saw it with different eyes; he wasn’t the same man who feared his future thirty years earlier. He was ready to follow the Lord wherever he went because Peter knew where it all ended – in eternal life.
Saint Paul distills this lesson into a single sentence, “I consider the sufferings of this present age as nothing compared to the glory to be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
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Looking back, I’m sure Peter would encourage us with the same words we used to inspire our pilgrims: “Participate. Don’t anticipate.”
Follow the Lord wherever he may go.
Step by step, day by day.
Get behind him.
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Image credits: (1) Pocket Mindfulness (2) Life Skills Resource Group (3) The Center for Advancement of Christian Education
Thank you, Fr. Kevin! I appreciate your reflection and it got me thinking as well. I thought about the final picture on your – sandals (presumably of Jesus) walking towards His cross with the call to Follow Me. How strange that must seem to people without faith. How easy it is to blend in to the crowd and worry about so many things – work, world events, the future, retirement, college savings, the list goes on. However, as people of faith, we trust and hope in the plan he has for us both in this life and the next. This is strange in the secular world where we are told we are central and we deserve. I take some comfort when my daughter tells me sometimes her friends look at her funny when she says grace before lunch at her public school. I tell her if people AREN’T looking at us as a little different, we might be blending in too much in the world. Thank you, Fr. Kevin for your blog – your words reach more than just your parishioners, and they are greatly appreciated! God Bless you!
Wow, thanks so much, Dave! God bless you.