READING 1:
Isaiah 50:4c-9a
Psalm
116 READING 2: 2 nd Reading : James 2: 14-18 GOSPEL: Mark 8:27 -35
Last Sunday a man approached me after Mass and asked for a blessing. Both his ears were bandaged. I asked what happened. He told me that he was watching the Ohio State-Texas football game and his wife was doing some ironing—something she almost never does. Anyhow, the phone rang and she asked him to answer it, so without taking his eyes off the game he reached for the phone, but accidentally picked up the iron and burnt his ear. I asked what happened to his other ear and he said the phone rang again. You just expect that a good football game is going to include some pain and suffering on the way to the victory. In today’s Gospel, Peter is a model of vacillating faith—a model that typifies our own reaction to the call to discipleship. Caesarea Philippi was a bazaar of worship places and temples, with altars erected to every concept of the divinity from the local agrarian gods to the gods of Greece and Imperial Rome. Amid this marketplace of statue-gods, Jesus asks Peter and the Twelve, “Who do people say that I am? Who do you say that I am?” Peter immediately confesses his faith in Jesus as the Messiah—the Messiah of victory and salvation. Afterall, they were surrounded by the false gods of prosperity. But when Jesus begins to speak of a Messiah who will suffer rejection and death, Peter objects. Peter’s reaction is ours, as well: We prefer to follow the popular, happy Jesus, the healing and comforting Jesus—but we back away from the suffering, humble, sacrificial Jesus of the cross. The truth is we are everything we are because he loved us enough to die for us. Time magazine has a cover article about the popular sermons in the Evangelical churches that claim that God wants us to be rich. I agree, by the way, that God wants us to be rich. And anyone from any other country in the world or in all of history would say that we are rich. I drove to Jacksonville with one of our parishioners for a meeting last week. He told me that from now on when he asks God for something, he’s also going to ask God to help him live with the consequences of getting his prayers answered. We are rich in so many ways, and we are everything we are because He loved us . And there are consequences: “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.” I understand that in the Greek Orthodox Church, when a child is baptized the priest takes his large cross and forcefully strikes the little child on the chest, so hard it leaves a mark and so hard it hurts the child and the child screams. In our tradition we anoint the child with a mixture of oil and perfume blessed by the Bishop with the priests on Holy Thursday. What is the difference here? The symbolism of the Eastern baptism is clear, indicating that the child who has been baptized into Christ must bear the cross, and the cross is not a sign of victory or of prosperity or of success, but of sacrifice, pain and death. “The Messiah,” the word translates into Greek as “the Christ” and means “the Anointed One,” ultimately triumphs in the resurrection. We anoint our children with the “Chrism of Salvation as Christ was anointed priest, prophet and king.” We know that salvation is ours thanks to Jesus Christ not to ourselves; we are everything we are because he loved us. We also know that our children, as priests, prophets and kings, will be expected to make some sacrifices for the sake of the love that saves. As St. James says, “So, also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Anyone who has ever truly loved would agree. We take up our cross, stay the course through the pain and suffering of this game of life and follow Him through the sacrifice of Calvary to victory. We are called to live heroic lives. There are heroes making sacrifices throughout this church today. How does it go? A beautiful young woman stops after Mass and says: “My faith has made me the loneliest person I know,” she said. “My roommates go out, drink, party, do drugs, they all have boyfriends. I get asked out all the time, go on one or two dates and never hear from the guys again. I know why, they’ve told me what they expect, and I tell them I am committed to living the way I believe God wants me to live. I am not going to get drunk or do drugs because I don’t want to live with the consequences.” A handsome, energetic young exec tells me: “My boss told me I was the top prospect for moving up the executive ladder and she was taking me to the home office so that I could see and be seen. The young execs work hard and long hours. I was very impressed. I got to hang around with them at work and go to a bar with them after a long intense work day. Man, this gang parties as hardy as they work. I could see the direction the night was going and went back to my hotel. The next morning my boss said there would be one more night and I needed to keep up with the first string if I wanted to be a player. I asked what she meant. She said I cut out early and it was noticed. I said I could see the direction that party was headed and I love my wife, I am a happy husband and father and no job is worth betraying my family. She told me to go see if I could find a job with this much potential at a church. I have my résumés out to other companies. Every moment we live, every decision and choice we make, every good thing we do is our most revealing and telling response to the question, “Who do you say I am?” Our love for family and friends, our commitment to the highest moral and ethical standards, our willingness to put God first: in our lives, in our budgets, and in our calendars, are, ultimately, our true confession of faith in Jesus Christ as the Love and Word of God incarnate. Afterall, everything we are, we are because He loved us first! And that is the Good News! Fr. Jeff McGowan |
