September 15, 2024
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 131
Reading I:Is 50:5-9a
The Lord GOD opens my ear that I may hear;
and I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
my face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.
The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
He is near who upholds my right;
if anyone wishes to oppose me,
let us appear together.
Who disputes my right?
Let that man confront me.
See, the Lord GOD is my help;
who will prove me wrong?
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
R. (9) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
I love the LORD because he has heard
my voice in supplication,
Because he has inclined his ear to me
the day I called.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
The cords of death encompassed me;
the snares of the netherworld seized upon me;
I fell into distress and sorrow,
And I called upon the name of the LORD,
“O LORD, save my life!”
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
Gracious is the LORD and just;
yes, our God is merciful.
The LORD keeps the little ones;
I was brought low, and he saved me.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
For he has freed my soul from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I shall walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
Reading II:Jas 2:14-18
What good is it, my brothers and sisters,
if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can that faith save him?
If a brother or sister has nothing to wear
and has no food for the day,
and one of you says to them,
“Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well”
but you do not give them the necessities of the body,
what good is it?
So also faith of itself,
if it does not have works, is dead.
Indeed someone might say,
“You have faith and I have works.”
Demonstrate your faith to me without works,
and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.
Alleluia:Gal 6:14
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord
through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Mk 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
If there is one take away from this Sunday, it would be making a stand– in life – for the good. In life, it is always a matter of taking a position on things because of the decisions we make. Whatever those decisions are, they fall only on these two sides: for good or not. In a way, we can say that making decisions should not be complicated because there are only two (2) sides to choose from, and those sides reflect upon the state of our practice of the faith. In the end, it is about siding with Jesus or not. Siding with Jesus means loyalty, obedience and faithfulness to the Word Incarnate, and all these terms mean fighting for what you believe in and defending the faith when it is attacked.
Christianity is a dynamic and an action-packed faith. It does preach about tolerance and ecumenism but the praxis is clear: “Go and make disciples of all nations” – which begs nothing less than for every Christian or anybody who calls himself a follower of Christ to actively participate in proclaiming the salvation of Jesus. Also, Christianity may possess a library of teachings which came from the Founder, all of which must be read and complied with to grow in the faith, but theory or doctrine must also be manifested beyond the confines of the laws of God where the mercy, compassion and kindness of God reign. If God chose ONLY to be just and forego being merciful, mankind will all end up in hell because not a single person will pass the standards of justice. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). It is a good thing that our God is a merciful Father who will always forgive a repentant heart.
Spreading the Word to the ends of the earth is not and should not be a walk in the park. It poses insurmountable and unimaginable challenges. Through the centuries, the attacks on the Church and the faith have been constant, direct and brutal. The world is choosing to be more secular each day by discrediting and mocking faith and religion, and Christianity is the favorite target. Worse, a lot of Christians do not even know about this ongoing global phenomenon and some of the faithful are even contributors to this without them knowing it. THEREFORE, IT PAYS TO KNOW and LIVE OUT THE FAITH EVEN IN THE FACE OF WHAT OTHERS PERCEIVE AS STUPIDITY! In fact, not to know and grow in the faith are the major reasons why Christianity is being attacked from the outside and even from inside of the Church. How can a Christian effectively defend the faith in ignorance and passivity? One can’t simply give what he does not have – one cannot share his or her Christian faith if one doesn’t practice it.
The Lord God of the universe has been “present” in the affairs of mankind since the very beginning. And why not? He created man and the world is His backyard. He created the universe. He owns the place. Why shouldn’t He get involved in the universe? He owns the place. Can you tell a landlord or a homeowner not to enter his property?
Another point is the fact that the God of the universe even became one like man, lived among us, died by crucifixion and rose again on the 3rd day. He made His appearance in history about 2000 years ago, just to prove, among others, that He is real and true. Isn’t this enough reason to make a stand in our life for the good?
First Reading: The Suffering Servant is also The Good Shepherd
“The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced.” (Is 50:7)
Would you rather be disgraced before men but graced by God or accepted by men but disgraced before God? Sometimes in life, the choice is that simple and boils down to these two choices. Sadly, some would opt for acceptance by men over and above justification by God. When we quest for holiness, we stumble and make bad decisions every now and then because of the mistaken belief that we can fight evil on our own and that the acceptance of men brings us more wealth and comfort in life. This might be true to a certain temporary and temporal extent but in the end, it won’t bring you true joy and holiness. Only those who stick it out with God until the end will be saved.
In last Sunday’s First Reading, Isaiah was proclaiming Israel’s vindication from its enemies: “Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you” (Isaiah 35:4).
Today, he is saying that the said vindication shall be through a ‘Servant’ whom God has handpicked. He will be obedient and meek but He shall suffer greatly and will go through so much pain because he shall carry upon Himself the guilt and shame of Israel. In the end, He shall triumph because God is with Him. Why was He destined to take away the sins of the world? It is because He is the only perfect sacrifice and expiation to God the Father; no one else can take his place.
A few paragraphs later, in Isaiah chapters 52-53, the suffering of this Servant is going to be narrated and they are the verses that we hear during the Good Friday service of the Veneration of the Cross. In pain, the ‘Suffering Servant’ calls out to God for deliverance. At first, God seems oblivious to the loud cries, including this Good Friday verse: 34…”My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34, taken from Ps 22:1). In the end, God hears the Servant and only through Him was the vindication of Israel and the world made possible. (Ps 22:24-31).
The Servant shall also be a ‘Good Shepherd’ because included in Israel’s vindication is the gathering of God’s lost flock led by this Suffering Servant who doubles as a Good Shepherd. He may have been disgraced in the eyes of men but His vindication from God takes away all the disgrace He endured. In the same way, all those who follow and abide in Him, though themselves disgraced from following the Suffering Servant shall, like the Suffering Servant-Good Shepherd, “walk before the Lord, in the land of the living” (Today’s Responsorial Psalm, 116). Such is the everlasting reward, if we only suffer with Him who suffered so dearly for our sake.
Because of pride and original sin, man must suffer and die as a consequence thereof. Included thereof is divine testing to make us realize the immorality and innocence we once possessed but forfeited by listening to the lies of the devil, and to make us stronger to freely decide for truth and God’s love. Israel’s vindication is mankind’s vindication. Therefore, whatever immortality and innocence we lost are restored by the suffering and vindication of the Servant-Shepherd. The choice is now before us: acceptance or rejection. We all know who this Suffering Servant-Good Shepherd is and He is none other than our Lord Jesus the Christ.
Again, would you rather be disgraced before men but graced by God or accepted by men but disgraced before God? To follow Jesus usually gets you unpopular with men but surely gets you the graces you need to be closer to God.
Gospel: The Great Profession Of Faith In Christ
From the First Reading, we realize that God’s Suffering Servant and Good Shepherd is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. He is God’s vindication because through Him, with Him and only in Him is God’s salvation realized and made possible. In today’s Gospel, Jesus said some pretty harsh words to Peter, of all people. After giving Simon the title ‘Peter’ (the rock), handing him the keys to the Kingdom and bestowing upon him absolute authority to bind and loose things on earth, Jesus calls him “Satan” because he is “thinking not as God does but as human beings do.” THEREFORE, anyone who obstructs or thwarts God’s plan is ‘Satan’ because he is “thinking not as God does but as human beings do.” On the other hand, one who wishes a holy life must will it, act on it and pray for it because such a life requires tremendous resolve, and in today’s hedonistic and secular world, the stakes are much higher. Remember, to say with conviction that Jesus is Lord requires divine initiative from the Father, who knows what is in our hearts: “Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
God had only one goal when He sent Jesus – SALVATION because of the TRUTH: “3 …God our Savior, 4who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5…one God, …one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all…” (1Timothy 2: 3-6).
To follow the Suffering Servant of God, the requirement is to deny one’s self, take up his cross and follow Him(Matt 16:24-26) – in other words, answering the call to surrender yourself to the Good Shepherd and let Him lead you to the greenest grazing pastures ever. To deny one’s self in the context of self-donation means never failing to share your life with others, not only for their physical needs but also making sure that those around you and with you grow in the faith. It also means that we are called to emulate our Lord Jesus by living out our faith daily, by being ‘a servant’ like Jesus and by serving others because in this way, God is glorified.
To take up one’s cross has always been understood to embrace that which is difficult and even unacceptable for the liberation and freedom of others – liberation and freedom from burden, sin and evil. Nobody wants to carry his or her cross. For most people, the burden is too much that the natural reaction is to flee from the burden. But our Lord became man to suffer with us and for us by literally taking up His Holy Cross and dying through crucifixion (“crucifixion” means death on the cross) on Good Friday. This is why He is called the ‘Christ’ – the one who was anointed and sent by God to save mankind; and His name “Jesus” means ‘God saves.’
To follow Jesus requires denying one’s self by taking up our own crosses. Due to original sin, nobody gets spared from the burden of carrying the cross. Our Lord and Savior did not spare Himself from this ignominy and horror. Sure, He bargained with the Father during His last hours on earth with these words: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will” (Matt 26:39, Lk 22:42), and “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt 27:46 & Mk 15:34). But the key is to accept and offer your suffering to God for the forgiveness of sins, including your own. Suffering, understood in the life of Christ, may be imbued with redemptive value and may become a catalyst for conversion, if it is offered to God for the forgiveness of sins. This may seem counterintuitive because it suggests that we should even run towards suffering by embracing it. But the only way to demystify this is to understand and accept it in terms of the redemptive value of suffering, and God can take anyone’s suffering and give it redemptive value for the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of others, IF WE ONLY HAVE FAITH TO OFFER OUR SUFFERINGS TO GOD. The Incarnate Jesus was sinless. Yet, He suffered and died to take away the sins of the world.
To proclaim that Jesus is the Christ requires divine revelation and faith. Our limited minds cannot, on its own, begin to fathom the deepest mysteries of Jesus’ role as Christ without the Holy Spirit’s guidance and wisdom. With faith and the Holy Spirit, we too can believe and proclaim what St. Peter said at Caesarea Philippi: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Lastly, proclaiming Christ in our daily lives is the very definition of making a stand for the good and Jesus said: “No one is good but God alone” (Mark 10:18), and “You shall therefore be perfect, as your Father, who is in Heaven, is perfect” (Matt 5:48). Life is about daily conversion to perfection that only comes from Jesus Christ.
A blessed Sunday to everyone.
– Gospel Reflection by Kuya Rommel Cecilio of SLRP Bible Apostolate Ministry