A SHOCKING CONFRONTATION

 A SHOCKING CONFRONTATION

Just after ‘an election win’, when Peter is confirmed as leader of the little group

of disciples, there is a strong exchange of words between him and Jesus. Having

identified himself to them as indeed the Messiah, Jesus explains what he will

have to endure in order to achieve his goal: ‘… to suffer grievously … and be

put to death’. Peter is horrified and vehemently advises against it.

But this is the heart of the matter and Jesus tells him bluntly; ‘you are a scandal,

an obstacle in my path.’ How often that confrontation takes place! Not only

between people but within the heart of a person? The war in Ukraine gets far

more coverage than the war in Sudan but the same dynamic is at work. We hear

of young men, on the cusp of life, opting to stay and fight, knowing that they

may not live to see their wives and children again.

Matthew, Chapter 16, right in the heart of the gospel is the heart of the gospel. It

is decision time. Am I going to choose the ‘better part’, the ‘road less

travelled’? Or am I going to take ‘the easy way out’? The question comes all the

time. There was a banker in Zambia who was doing well, ‘climbing the ladder’,

‘upwardly mobile’! But she knew in her heart she was not satisfied. The work

brought her a comfortable life but no peace. She gave up her career and studied

psychology and became a psychotherapist helping countless people. She ‘lost’

her life and found it.

There are many people who make this good and generous choice each day and

let us celebrate them. Much of the time we can include ourselves! But the

yawning question remains. It goes on beckoning us. It is there in the elections

we have just endured. Do we settle back into our normal ways which disturb no

one, least of all ourselves? Or do we keep up the reaching, the searching, the

straining for something better. There is no authenticity without the cross. It

leaves a mark on every decision we make. We either choose the cross and find

‘life’ or avoid it and settle for a half-life.

A hundred years ago, James Joyce gave a terrifying description of a priest’s

sermon on judgement and hell to boys in a secondary school in his Portrait of

the Artist as a Young Man. I hope no priest would do the same today! But I

suppose many of us have sometimes wondered about what our final exam will

be like! Will we get a warm welcome, a ‘well-done’, a Summa cum Laude, or

just a pass?! It will be a warm welcome but we still have to keep the question

always before our eyes: ‘can I lose my life each day and so find it?’

3 Sept 2023 Sunday 22A Jer 20:7-9 Rom 12:1-2 Mt 16:21-27