The Discipleship – Carrying Cross, Offering as Living Sacrifices, Not Conforming to the World, to Follow Christ: Twenty-Second Sunday, Cycle A

 The Gospel Reading of the twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, Matthew 16:21-27, follows the Gospel Reading of the previous Sunday (Matthew 16:13-20).

When he and his disciples were in the region of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus first asked them who people in general thought he was. And they indicated that some said “Elijah” and others said “John the Baptist”, while some others said “Jeremiah”, as well as, “one of the prophets” (Matthew 16:13-14). At that time, people did not recognize Jesus as the Christ.

Then Jesus asked the disciples who they would say he is, and it was Peter who correctly proclaimed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:15-16).

Peter was able to identify Jesus as the Christ because the Father chose him, to whom He revealed His Son’s Christological identity (Matthew 16:17). And it is possible that He chose Peter for a special role among the twelve disciples, in enabling him to identify Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.

In response to this, Jesus proclaimed to build his Church and gave his binding authority to Peter, as symbolized with giving the keys of his Kingdom (Matthew 16:18-19), assuming Peter’s foundational leadership for the Church. But Jesus also warned them not to tell anyone of his Christological identity yet (Matthew 16:20), because he was not yet glorified through his death and resurrection.

Then, Jesus foretold his glorification, namely, his death upon suffering and resurrection in Jerusalem to his disciples (Matthew 16:21). In response, Peter protested the prospect of Jesus’ suffering and death, saying, no such thing ever should never happen to him (Matthew 16:22). But Jesus rebuked Peter very strongly, saying:

Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do (Matthew 16:23).

And Jesus gave the disciples a succinct discourse on discipleship, emphasizing its cost to bear but touching on reward for the faithful discipleship:

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.

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 (Matthew 16:24-27).

Basically, the Gospel Reading of the Twenty-Second Sunday (Matthew 16:21-17) has three parts:

I.                Jesus’ first foretelling of his passion, death, and resurrection (v.21)

II.             Peter’s protest to the prospect of Jesus’ passion and death (v.22) and Jesus’ rebuke of Peter for trying to prevent his glorification (v.23)

III.           Jesus spoke of the discipleship and its cost and reward (vv. 24-27)

Now the disciples know that Jesus is, indeed, the Christ, prophesized in the Old Testament. They also know Jesus’ explicit will to build the Church upon Peter’s pastoral leadership with his binding authority, which the Roman Catholic Church understands as the papal authority. But Jesus wants to make sure that the disciples understand that he must be glorified through his suffering, death, and resurrection, as prophesized in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, for his Church to be established. Because unless he goes through these phases of glorification, he would not ascend to the Father, from whom he came, and the Holy Spirit would not descend on them to give birth to the Church unless his glorification is consummated with the ascension (i.e. John 14:1-31; 15:26-16:16; Acts 1:1-9; 2:1-41).

Peter’s protest to the prospect of Jesus’ suffering and death also means that he could have become a stumbling block to God’s salvific plan, which includes’ the incarnated Christ’s glorification through his suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension, followed by the descent of the Holy Spirit to establish Christ’s Church on earth. And it is Satan, who wants to keep this God’s scheme of salvation from further unfolding. He is always against God’s will.

It was obvious that Peter did not understand that God’s salvific plan was to send His Son to suffer, die, and resurrect, before having him return to Him and sending down the Holy Spirit to establish the Church. By protesting Jesus’ suffering and death, therefore, Peter was rather acting in favor of Satan. This is why Jesus called Peter, “Satan”, when he rebuked him (Matthew 16:23).

So the Part I and the Part II are about God’s salvific plan through the suffering, death, and resurrection of His Son. And the Part II reminds us that this scheme of salvation cannot be disrupted.

The Part III is about how we, as disciples today, can actively participate in this unfolding God’s salvific scheme so that we, as the Church, can truly fulfill its mission: salvation of souls. For this, Jesus spells out clearly that we first must deny ourselves in order to carry our respective crosses to follow him, who carries his Cross for us.

Jesus carried his Cross as he was going through his passion before death (Matthew 27:31–33//Mark 15:20–22//Luke 23:26–32 and John 19:16–18). And this is not merely a historical event. In truth, he continues to carry his Cross, as God’s salvific plan has not yet consummated. He is always with us until this salvific scheme completes (Matthew 28:20), leading us with his Cross, as we follow him with ours.

What does it mean to carry our crosses?

It means to bear the possibility of martyrdom.

If we reject our crosses, refuse to give our lives for Christ and his mission, then, we are not qualified to follow him.

This is why Jesus teaches against clinging to our earthly lives because it may cause a failure to complete our apostolic mission, thus forfeiting eternal life in the great rewards given by him upon his return at the end of time. In order to minimize this problem, Jesus calls us to denounce ourselves and our worldly interests. If we become attached to ourselves and worldly matters, it will be more difficult to carry our crosses in completing our apostolic mission.

So, the question is, which should we pursue: eternal life in the Kingdom or gaining the whole world?

Paul, in the Second Reading (Romans 12:1-2) encourages us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices and keeping ourselves from becoming conformed to the world, for this reason. And he reminds us that we do need the power of the Holy Spirit so that our bodies are worthy to be the living sacrifices (martyrdom) and our minds can comprehend God’s will on us. Remember, Peter’s problem when he protested God’s salvific plan by trying to prevent Jesus from going to Jerusalem to suffer and die? As Jesus pointed out, Peter did have things of God in his mind (Matthew 16:26).

Following Jesus and carrying our crosses comes with challenges and tribulations. At times, we may find ourselves lamenting as Jeremiah did, as reflected in the First Reading (Jeremiah 20:7-9). When we encounter such times, we certainly need to call on strengths from God (i.e. Isaiah 40:29; Ephesians 6:10) and be assured that Christ is in us (Colossians 1:27).