This weekend, the Church celebrates the Twenty Second Sunday of Ordinary Time and today’s Gospel reading comes from Matthew 16:21-27. After Peter recognizes Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus tells His Apostles that He must journey to Jerusalem, where He will be killed by the religious leaders and rise on the third day. The Apostles expected a conquering Messiah, not a suffering Messiah, so they refused to listen. Peter said he would not let such a thing happen, so Jesus immediately said, “Get behind me, Satan!” Peter wanted to prevent Christ’s suffering not out of his spiritual discernment, but out of his human fear of suffering. Satan was using him to tempt Jesus to walk the road to worldly success and bypass the road to Calvary. Peter, who was just previously called the “Rock” for proclaiming the truth under the inspiration of the Father, was now called a “stumbling block” for using his human thinking to obstruct Jesus. When we do not listen to God’s voice by His grace, we naturally listen to our own voices. Perhaps our human natures do not like God’s will, but it will always be best for us. The cross was an instrument of execution used by the Romans, so it was not easy to accept as a symbol by Christians. Christ had only one reason to use it: to teach that His followers had to be willing to accept persecution and suffering for the love of God. Those who wish to find themselves must first give of themselves.
「Spiritual Talk」Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time – Fr. Anthony Ho
