September 15, 2024: Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: 8:27-35

Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Christ.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.

He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “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 and that of the Gospel will save it.”

Reflection

This Gospel passage seems packed with challenges. First there is the question directed to each one of us by Jesus: “But who do you say that I am?” Peter became the spokesperson for all the disciples, “You are the Christ.” But only a short time later, Jesus is rebuking Peter for trying to deter him from suffering and rejection. Then, each of us hears the challenge: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny her/himself, take up the cross and follow me.”

The message, it seems to me, is this: Who we say Christ is for us, must be proven by our actions. And those actions include self-denial, taking up one’s cross (of illness, misunderstanding, sorrow) and following Jesus.

Action

Once you respond to “who Christ is for you,” at the end of the day decide how and when your actions did or did not match your words.