Jesus was constantly trying to tell the disciples what was going to happen, and they were a little bit slow to pick up on the message. I think we all fall into that category sometimes. Welcome back to our reflections on the Gospel. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, verses 21 through 27.
From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid, Lord, this shall never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan.
You are a hindrance to me, for you are not on the side of God but of men." Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?
Or what shall a man give in return for his life? For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done." Each day we're looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea that jumps out of the Gospels for us.
Today's reading is super abundantly rich with these options. The first thing is that Jesus is trying to get a message through to the disciples, and they are slow to get the message, and I think we are all like that at times.
But it's good for us to pause sometimes and think, "All right, what is God trying to make clear to me right now that I am pretending not to know, avoiding, resisting, running away from, whatever it is? What is God trying to make clear to me right now, to you right now, is the thing that jumps out at me." But there's so many things.
Obviously, Peter comes to Jesus, and Jesus says," You are a hindrance to me." What is a hindrance to you at this time in your life? If we think about really living the Gospel in a radical way, what is a hindrance to that in your life, and how are you going to deal with that hindrance?
From there, Jesus goes into this almost a litany of lessons. "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself ." The Gospel Christianity is, in many ways, a philosophy of self-denial, and that isn't something that we just happen upon. It isn't something that happens by mistake. It isn't something that happens by accident.
It is something that only happens intentionally. And so to ask ourselves, "Okay, when did I intentionally deny myself? When's the last time I intentionally denied myself, and when's the last time I intentionally denied myself for the sake of the Gospel?" Then there's this line, there's this famous line, right?
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?" Now, when we think about this, we tend to think about it in worldly terms. I think about it on a micro level. More recently, I think traditionally we think about it on a macro level.
When I say on a micro level, I think about it like on a daily basis. On a daily basis, am I trying to gain the world, or am I putting the Kingdom of God first? Elsewhere, Jesus says, "Seek first the Kingdom of God ." Am I seeking first the Kingdom of God?
If somebody looked at my calendar, if somebody shadowed me for the day, would they say, "Oh, he's seeking first the Kingdom of God," or would they say, "Oh, he's trying to gain the world," or is he trying to accomplish these things? And it's a constant struggle. It's a constant challenge for all of us to put the Kingdom first. And this litany of lessons just goes on and on in today's reading.
But what is the word, the phrase, the idea that jumped out at you, and how are you going to carry that into your day? How are you going to live that out today in the midst of the craziness of this world and very often our very, very busy lives? Have a great day, and remember, be bold, be Catholic.
