August 28, 2011 - Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading - Jeremiah 20:7-9
You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. All the day I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me.
Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message; the word of the LORD has brought me derision and reproach all the day. I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.
Responsorial Psalm - Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
R. (2b) My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek; for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life; my lips shall glorify you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus will I bless you while I live; lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name. As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied, and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
You are my help, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
My soul clings fast to you; your right hand upholds me.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Reading 2 - Romans 12:1-2
I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.
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."
Reflection
In any discipline, one of the things that sets apart the truly spectacular individuals from the rest of their peers is an uncompromising willingness to show up on days they don’t really want to be there. Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps boasted preternaturally talent, but Jordan was famous for being the first one at the gym in the morning to practice his jump shot, and Phelps spent a seemingly superhuman 6 to 8 hours a day in the water leading up to the Olympics. Similar stories abound for Nobel-winning scientists who locked themselves in a lab for days on end and world-renowned musicians whose calloused fingers cracked and bled from the repeated efforts to perfect a piece. Their relentless drive to succeed compelled them to pour in the many hours necessary to achieve at the highest level.
There are no shortcuts to success. Be it a molecular biologist attempting to identify genetic factors for cancer, or a violinist attempting to win a chair with a major symphony—or, on a far more common level, a student studying for an organic chemistry final or one preparing to take the LSATs. Or the MCATs. Or Comps. Or Boards. One common theme persists across disciplines: in order to attain the goal, one must be willing to put in the work, despite all temptations to the contrary. Sometimes, the temptation to take the easy way out can be so powerful, so appealing, that the only way we can resist is to meet the temptation with equal ferocity, to let forth a visceral bellow to, “Get behind me, Satan!” This is what happens to Jesus in today’s Gospel.
Remember, in Jewish thought at the time of Jesus, “the Satan” was a title, not a single, personal being. The Satan was a member of the Heavenly Court, assigned by God to test humans—to challenge them, to tempt them. In some sense, the Satan was the unyielding drill instructor at boot camp screaming in the face of weary recruits, “You’re too weak! You’ll never make it through this program! I’ll bet you’d rather be warm and dry in your bed, curling up with a blanket, rather than out here in the mud doing push-ups!” The Satan was “employed” by God to make sure the individual had what it took to successfully accomplish his/her mission later on.
The only other time we see the Satan in the Gospel of Matthew is when Jesus is being tempted in the desert, and as we have covered before (Jesus’ Temptation in the Desert), the reason that the suggestions of the Satan were so tempting to Jesus is that they were the equivalent of taking the easy way out. Much as there is no magical shortcut to acing the MCATs or making it through medical school, there was no “easy way out” for Jesus’ mission on earth. He knew that the task God had given him would require great hardship and unspeakable suffering. It was something that must have tormented him throughout his public ministry—indeed, we see him agonizing over it in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his death. We see a human Jesus, a person like ourselves, who was filled with anxiety and terror and dread, who must have been incredibly tempted to walk away from the task at hand, knowing how much it would hurt.
When he describes the suffering he is going to have to undergo in today’s Gospel, informing his disciples that he would have to suffer and die to complete his assignment, it would be like one of us telling a friend about what it will take to become a surgeon. “Well, I’ll have to take the MCATs, do well in my classes, shadow some doctors, find time for research, get into medical school, SURVIVE medical school, pass the boards, get matched with a hospital, spend several years working my way through internship and residency…” and Peter’s well-intentioned response would be equivalent to one of our friends saying, “Jeez, that sounds awful! Why don’t you just say, ‘Forget all that!’ and do something else?!”
Our response might be, “Get behind me, Satan!” which translated, would mean, “Don’t tempt me! Don’t you think I’m tempted to just avoid all that hardship?! Of course I am! But this is what I feel called to do!”
The same way that we, while we’re working on a research project; studying for a series of exams; preparing for a recital; training for a marathon, etc. will have times when we are tempted to sleep in on a Saturday morning, rather than go for a 20 mile run; or to go out and celebrate a friend’s birthday at the bar, rather than stay in and study for the exam… Jesus must have been tempted to say, “It’s been a long week; I’m tired of healing these people and delivering sermons… let’s blow off the next town and spend a week having fun!”
The reason that Jesus responds with so potent a rebuke to Peter is the same reason we might eventually lose our patience with a friend who keeps trying to get us to go out to the bar while we’re trying to study for an exam; at some point, we can’t resist anymore, and we’re sick of being inundated with invitations to take the temptation, so we just shout, “I’M NOT GOING OUT, LEAVE ME ALONE!” The person might be taken aback by our tone; they may even be hurt and confused, but the energy in our voice would be a direct expression of just how challenging it is to stay the course on a project we’ve undertaken, that we feel called to complete. Especially when there are so many short-term gratifications we’d probably “rather” be doing.
But in the long run, what we recognize by remaining committed, is that it is ultimately worth the price. Finishing the marathon; winning a research fellowship; getting accepted to medical school. We recognize that, no matter how appealing the short term alternative might be, going out with friends or sleeping in on a Saturday is nowhere near as fulfilling as the long-term accomplishment will be. Jesus, too, knew this. No matter how draining his public ministry, no matter how painful his suffering and death; it would ultimately result in the salvation of the human race.
Peter’s thought is: we want you to be happy! And we want to be happy with you! But he doesn’t understand that what will make Jesus most happy, will be to fulfill his mission. Oftentimes in life, our friends or family might do the same to us; they might push a suggestion and say, “Why don’t you…?” not understanding that this won’t bring us the greatest fulfillment in the long run. It’s for this reason that Jesus says to Peter, you’re not thinking about this as God does; you’re thinking about this as a human does. It’d be like saying to your friend who insists you blow off studying, “You’re not thinking about what I ought to do as someone who’s familiar with what it takes to get into medical school; you’re thinking about this as my friend who wants to see me less stressed and who wants to hang out with me.” In other words, “I love you, but you don’t get it.” That’s why Jesus isn’t mad at Peter.
In fact, Peter’s interjection is instructive for us, if we analyze it a bit. Peter’s words are an admixture of sincere love for his friend, “I don’t want to see you go through all that!” and self-ish fear that all of this is going to negatively affect his own life—after all, Peter had walked away from his job, left behind his family, given up everything he owned to follow Jesus. Now Jesus is telling that group of followers that, before too long, he’s going to be killed and they’re going to be on their own. Peter must have been freaking out! “Well then what am I supposed to do??”
The key for us, when we are in Jesus’ position, undertaking some difficult assignment that we know will involve hardship and possibly even pain, is to pray for the grace to sustain us on our mission, even when we are surrounded by the temptation to quit. Only by the grace of God will we be able to summon the internal motivation to stay in and study for an exam all day when our friends are out tailgating leading up to the Notre Dame game. Only by the grace of God will we be able to roll out of bed at 6 am on a Saturday morning in November, when it’s 37 degrees outside and raining, to plow through a long run in preparation for the marathon.
And, conversely, when we are Peter, when we find ourselves in relationship with someone who is endeavoring at some similar undertaking, we must pray for the grace to be supportive, even if we do not totally understand the logic of that person’s mission. Even if it strikes us as perfectly ILLOGICAL for a person to want to wake up before dawn and run in the rain, or to stare at data results in a lab until one’s eyes are sore.
When we are tempted by “the Satan,” very infrequently do we see a demonic figure with red horns and an evil grin, and the “evil” to which we are tempted is not usually some obvious or extraordinarily horrible thing. Far more often, the temptation is to tailgate with friends when we are in crunch time for a research project, and that “evil” appears to be a very great good—hanging out with friends! Cultivating relationship! The temptation isn’t to take a detour at mile 16 of the marathon and jump back on at mile 22, cheating the course—it’s to skip some of our training so that we can sleep in. The next time we feel that temptation, it may not be enough to sigh and force ourselves to do what is tough. We may have to exclaim, “Get behind me, Satan!”
Questions for Reflection
1) Have you ever undertaken some very challenging task? Studied for a particularly tough exam, when your friends were all going out? Trained for a sporting competition? Practiced for a recital? Were there days you were tempted to skip out on your work? How did you summon the strength to push through?
2) Can you think of any friends who have undertaken some mission you did not really understand? Worked in a foreign country? Taken a job that appears to involve a lot of stress and drama? Decided to train for something? How did you respond to that friend’s decision? Were you supportive? What does being a good friend look like? How can one be unconditionally supportive, without also becoming uncritically so? That is, what if you really DO believe this person’s undertaking is bad for them?
3) Jesus had his mission handed to him by the Father, but we are not often so lucky as to have it explicitly spelled out for us; how do you discern what it is God is calling you to do? How do you know which undertakings are part of “God’s plan,” and which are part of your “human plan?”
