Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Mark 8: 27-33

Jesus and his disciples set out
for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that I am?”
They said in reply,
“John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others one of the prophets.”
And he asked them,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said to him in reply,
“You are the Christ.”
 
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.

He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” 

The Gospel of the Lord.

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In this tiny Gospel passage, Peter experiences the highest high … and the lowest low.

One moment he boldly proclaims that Jesus is the “Christ.”

The next, Jesus turns around and calls him, “Satan.”

Why such a dramatic change?

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Peter’s confession of faith stirred a desire in Jesus to share more of his divine plan with his disciples. He is not the political savior that the disciples secretly hoped he’d be. Rather, “the Son of Man must suffer greatly… and be killed,” he tells them.

Peter’s dreams of glory are being shattered right in front of him. He has already left his home, his family, and his job in order to follow Jesus. And now it seems it’s all ending in death.

The fame, the power, and the prestige were a pipe dream. Dumbfounded, Peter says to Jesus, “That cannot be!”

In trying to prevent God’s divine will from unfolding, Peter becomes like Satan – an obstacle; a stumbling block.

So, Jesus corrects Peter, telling him to, “get behind” him. This gesture of standing behind Jesus implies that, even when Peter doesn’t understand, he must learn how to follow.

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At times we all shriek from accepting God’s will. We protest. Or stand in the way.

A malignant diagnosis, a closed door, a winding path we never thought we’d walk may, in fact, be where the Lord is leading us… but like Peter we don’t always understand… and we certainly don’t want to accept it.

What Peter will learn after the resurrection is something we all must – that God’s path, although difficult at times, leads to life in abundance. Think of the empty tomb.

Or that great prophecy from Isaiah: “I will lead the blind on their journey. By paths unknown I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them and make crooked ways straight.”

The challenge is learning how to be like Peter, how to “get behind” Jesus and follow him.

What might that look like for me today?

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Image credits: (1) The Archdiocese of Malta, February 16 (2) Twitter, James Martin, SJ (3) National Catholic Register

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Gospel: Mark 8: 22-26

When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida,
people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked,
“Do you see anything?”
Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”
Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly;
his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.
Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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This is the only miracle in all of the Gospels that takes place in stages. 

Usually, Jesus speaks and something happens – a storm is calmed, a demon is cast out, a person is raised from the dead. Elsewhere, a woman touches the tassel of his cloak and her flow of blood dries up.

Not today.

This man is healed in stages … and several, painstaking ones at that.

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Why is his healing not immediate? 

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It isn’t because Jesus is having an off day… not because he lacks the power to heal… not because he’s trying to torment the man.

Perhaps it’s this man’s lack of faith that slows the momentum.

The Gospel tells us that it was his friends who brought him to Jesus; meaning, the Lord was otherwise unknown to him.

Even after Jesus takes him by the hand, nothing happens. (In other cases, anyone who simply touches Jesus in faith is healed).

Then these two proceed on a private journey, leading them all the way out of town. In doing so, Jesus fulfills that great prophecy of Isaiah in such a literal way: “I will lead the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them.”

When they finally stop, Jesus spits on the man’s eyes, then presses his calloused carpenter’s hands onto the man’s eyeballs! Even so, it took another round of spittle and touch to finish the job.

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So, what’s the point?

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Imagine how often God must try breaking into our world, but a lack of faith, or an unwillingness to change, slows the momentum. This doesn’t mean that God ever stops trying.

But the stronger our faith – and the more we surrender – the faster we get what we need; the quicker we “see.”

Lord, give us eyes of faith.

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Image credits: (1) Independent Catholic News (2) Osprey Observer (3) Biblical Wallpapers, WordPress

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Genesis: 6: 5-10

When the LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth,
and how no desire that his heart conceived
was ever anything but evil,
he regretted that he had made man on the earth,
and his heart was grieved.

So the LORD said:
“I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created,
and not only the men,
but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air,
for I am sorry that I made them.”
But Noah found favor with the LORD.

Then the LORD said to Noah:
“Go into the ark, you and all your household,
for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just.
Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs,
a male and its mate;
and of the unclean animals, one pair,
a male and its mate;
likewise, of every clean bird of the air, seven pairs,
a male and a female,
and of all the unclean birds, one pair,
a male and a female.
Thus you will keep their issue alive over all the earth.
Seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth
for forty days and forty nights,
and so I will wipe out from the surface of the earth
every moving creature that I have made.”
Noah did just as the LORD had commanded him.

As soon as the seven days were over,
the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

The Word of the Lord.

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“The LORD said to Noah: ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household… Noah did just as the LORD had commanded him. [Then] the waters of the flood came upon the earth.”

Noah started building his ark while it was still bright and sunny outside. Once the darkness fell and the floods came, those who were saved were the ones already inside the boat. They prepared for flood waters, even when the rain was nowhere in sight.

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The story of Noah’s ark offers us a timeless lesson in faith: 

Build it now.

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There are moments in every person’s life when the flood waters come rushing in; when it feels like we’re going to drown.

Faith is the ark that keeps you above water.

It strengths you and protects you, just as Noah’s ark did.

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How much effort am I putting into strengthening my faith?

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Ash Wednesday is just a week away. Perhaps an appropriate goal this Lent is to build our ark while we can.

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Image credits: (1) An Ark Mentality, Christianity Today (2) Was Noah’s Ark Real? Denison Forum (3) Noah’ Ark, World History Encyclopedia