Reading 1
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?
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.
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.”
Meditation: Mark 8:27-35
Peter had a striking insight and dared to express it to Jesus and his fellow disciples: “You are the Messiah!” (Mark 8:29).
In Matthew’s account (Matthew 16:13-19), Jesus calls Simon “blessed” for being open to divine revelation. However, Jesus doesn’t let Peter bask in this moment. Right away, he begins to describe what being Messiah means: suffering and death for Jesus.
Peter’s reaction is swift and understandable: horror. Jesus in turn rebukes him for thinking like a human being rather than thinking with God. Peter has begun to see things from God’s perspective, and that should change everything.
Next, Jesus calls Peter to leadership. But Peter has to understand that leading doesn’t mean lording it over others but laying down his life for them (Mark 10:42-45). He can’t be a leader like this based on his own strength and wisdom. He must bring these things to Jesus and receive the gift God is offering him: a new heart, a new mind, a new way of life.
One specific way of denying ourselves and taking up our cross is to put aside our natural but fallen ways of thinking and ask God to help us see things as he does. The obvious example here is that suffering and death aren’t the ultimate evil; far worse are sin and failure to do the Father’s will.
What other ways of thinking might you need to adjust? Perhaps the judgment that this (career, security) is very important, or that (taking care of home and children, keeping church laws) is not so important. Perhaps the commonsense but inadequate approach that I can’t love others unless I first love myself; that my needs, then the needs of my family, come before the claims of the poor; or that material needs are more fundamental than spiritual ones.
Spend a few moments today asking God to show you one way in which you need to change your mind so that you can make room for his love and his way of thinking.
”Father, fill me with the riches of your wisdom. I want to see everything and everyone as you see them.”
Isaiah 50:4-9; Psalm 116:1-6,8-9; James 2:14-18
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