22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

September 3, 2017

Readings:

First Reading – Jeremiah 20: 7-9

Psalm 63

Second Reading – Romans 12: 1-2

Gospel reading according to Matthew (16: 21-27)

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Homily

Jesus knew very well what will happen to him when he goes to Jerusalem.  He will suffer and die from the hands of the elders, chief priests and the scribes.  This is the will and plan of his Father, which he cannot avoid or escape, to save the world from sin.  And then, Jesus began to reveal the ancient secret hidden to men to his chosen few, to his apostles.  “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Mt. 16:21).  Even Jesus cannot break the will of God.  He has to obey his Father’s will.

Like Jeremiah in the First Reading, he also cannot escape the power of God, for he said: “You duped (fooled, tricked, deceived) me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped, you were too strong for me, and you triumphed” (Jer. 20:7).  Jeremiah became the enemy of the people Israel for his prophesying war and violence.  Every day, more and more people became mad at him.  He said, “Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message; the word of the Lord has brought me derision and reproach all the day” (Jer. 20:8).   

The same with Jesus, every day, he received reproached from the people in Jerusalem.  They did not believe by not listening to what he was saying to them regarding their moral ascendency they received from Moses and Aaron.  But instead they fatten their coffers from corruption and manipulation of the poor.  Supposed to be, they should bring the poor and sinners to God, rather they made hindrances and barriers so that the poor and the sinners cannot come closer to God, their almighty and merciful Father.

Unlike Peter, in his human capacity and who wanted also Jesus not to obey the will of God, said to Jesus after taking him aside and begun to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you” (Mt. 16:22).  Jesus revealed what’s in the mind of Peter, as cleat as the sky or as clear as water.  Be careful from the advice of mundane persons, they lead you away from the truth, right and just, and from the will of God.  “He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.  You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do’” (Mt/ 16:23).  As true followers of Jesus, we must obey God’s will not our own will.  Just as what Jesus said to his disciples that “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 will find it.  What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world  and forfeit hiss life?  Or what can give in exchange for his life” (Mt. 16: 24-26).  When everything is fulfilled according to God’s will, when Jesus offered his life for the ransom of many, “. . .  the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct” (Mt. 16:27).

Whatever happens to Jeremiah, still he will obey God for he cannot avoid God’s will.  He said, “I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more.  But then, it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it” (Jer. 20:9).