Take up Your Cross and Follow Me
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time,
Readings for Year A: Jeremiah 20:7-9; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27
The contrast between the attitude of Simon Peter in last Sunday’s and in this Sunday’s Gospel reading, which immediately follows it, could not be more striking. Last week, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” and Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. This Sunday, Jesus tells his disciples that he will suffer, die and rise again to which Peter responds, “God forbid!”
Peter was asked to witness to his faith in Jesus in two ways, both with his lips and with his life. The former came more easily to him than the latter. It seems it took him time to grasp the practical implications of the faith he professed.
We’ll remember how, after Jesus had been arrested, Peter followed him to the house of the high priest and how, when the servant girl asked whether he was a follower of Jesus, he replied, “I am not!”, not once but three times. And then in Jesus’ moment of greatest need, as he died on the cross, was Peter there with Mary his mother and the beloved disciple? He was not. It seems he was locked away in a room with the other disciples lest what happened to Jesus should happen to him.
We know that at the end, Peter gave his life for Jesus, dying a martyr in far off Rome. In John’s gospel the turning point in Peter’s life comes after the resurrection when, beside the sea of Galilee, Jesus askes him, “Do you love me?” and he plies three times, “You know everything, you know I love you”. Peter’s growth in a faith expressed not only with words but with his life took time.
We too are asked to witness to our faith in Jesus both with the words we speak and with the life we live. I would say that in my own case, grasping the implications of what it means to believe in Jesus and truly to love him seems to be taking me a lifetime! There is much about living the Gospel with integrity that is a challenge: standing up for those who are unjustly treated, giving our time to those who are poorest, publicly admitting we are followers of Jesus when others might ridicule us, and so on. Being a disciple of his, following him with our lives, can be difficult and this is no doubt why Jesus also says in this Sunday’s Gospel reading that his followers will take up their cross and follow him.
I often ask, and perhaps you do as well, “How can we do this?”. The example of Peter can help us. There is earlier in Matthew’s Gospel that memorable scene when the disciples are in a boat on the stormy lake when Jesus comes to them walking on the water. What does Peter say? “Lord, if it is you, let me walk towards you on the water”. Jesus replies, “Come!”. And the astonishing thing is that Peter actually does walk on water until, that is, he takes his eyes off Jesus and looks instead at the waves around him and he begins to sink. All of which can be taken as a metaphor for living our faith. It involves our not being in control, taking risks and sometimes feeling anxious. But keeping our eyes on Jesus, we’ll do it!
How can we keep our eyes on Jesus? St John Paul II invited us all to “Open wide the doors to Christ”. But how can we do that? There’s no doubt that making a habit of reading and pondering the Gospels, learning about Jesus, looking to see what he says and how he reacts, will deepen our love for him and our trust in him. I find it also a great help to begin each day with a prayer like this: “Lord Jesus, help me today to live like you; to speak, to act and to love like you so that when people see me they may think of you. Amen”.
In whatever way we find suits us, when we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, we’ll experience the power of his Spirit alive in us and enabling us to express our belief in him not only with our words but with our lives as well.
Fr Michael Holman SJ