Gospel Reflection For Sunday 3rd September 2023

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time – by Fr Brian Maher OMI

Gospel Reflection for Sunday September 3rd 2023 | 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

It is well worth reflecting on the place of the cross in our lives. It is the central symbol of Christianity. We wear the cross around our necks, in our lapels and even in our ears. We use it as a blessing, as a sign of forgiveness and as the supreme indicator of God’s love.

And this is where the problems begin. How can the execution of a person, purposely chosen to cause the greatest possible pain and humiliation, be a sign of love? It is the contradiction at the very heart of our faith. St. Paul, in his usual succinct way, wrote to the believers in Corinth, “…but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness…” (1 Cor 1:23). And this is true. It is a stumbling block for many and foolishness for many more. The cross – crucifixion – was kept by Rome for rebels and traitors. It was public, slow, utterly humiliating and indescribably painful. It said to all who saw it, “…the Emperor is God. This is what happens to anyone who says otherwise.” Jesus preached a Kingdom other than Rome and a king other than Caesar and the cross on which he died put a very public end to it.

So how then can St. Paul finish his quote with, “…but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor 1:24). The answer is because of the Resurrection. The cross truly was the end of the line for that small, sad group of people who followed Jesus and dared to hope that the Kingdom he preached was possible. The evidence for this is not hidden from us in the Gospels: his disciples – including Peter, his ‘Rock’ – left him to die alone, fleeing in fear and hiding away like cowards. For them, at that moment, it was over and an utter failure.

Then two days later, after the Sabbath day, Mary Magdalene was going to the tomb to anoint his body and accord him the proper burial rites of the Jewish faith. She was shocked and deeply upset to find the tomb empty and pleaded with a man she thought was the gardener to tell her what happened. The man spoke just one word, her name, “…Mary…”, and she instantly recognised him as Jesus. That one word changed everything. The cross was not the end, rather it was the beginning. No Emperor of Rome ever rose from the dead, and no one would be foolish enough to claim it unless they were certain they could support it.

The irony of the Cross is that the very means of death chosen for Jesus (to show that only the Emperor was King), became the very means by which Jesus showed us that only God is King, and the Kingdom which had come to our world was God’s Kingdom – let no one say God does not have a sense of humour!

Here is our first lesson in understanding the place of the cross in our lives. The cross does not, and never can, stand alone. Without the resurrection it is a meaningless failure. If we are going to “take up our cross and follow Jesus…”, as the Gospel tells us we must do, then we cannot do that unless we first take on ourselves the reality of the resurrection. Isn’t this what Pope Francis means when he says in his first encyclical, ‘The Joy of the Gospel’, “We must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral!” (EG 10) ? In another place he warns that often we look like a people who have “all Good Friday and no Easter Sunday.”

It always seems to me that the cross is easily embraced. It is stark, blunt and harsh. Embracing it, witnessing to it, is also stark, blunt, and very often, harsh. Fasting, climbing mountains (sometimes barefoot), denying ourselves sleep, etc. are all familiar ways we embrace the cross. And they are good as ways to acknowledge selfishness, pride, anger, resentment, and all of the other sins we carry within us.

Embracing the resurrection is more difficult. It is less obvious and more ethereal and delicate. We cannot go around all day with a kind of inane smile on our faces, saying we are full of joy because Jesus is risen from the dead. That would simply make us look silly and frivolous. Nor can we shout the ‘joy of the resurrection’ from street corners and in public parks. That is more intrusive than attractive and will more likely result in annoyance and rejection of our message.

But because it is difficult does not make it any less important. We must constantly seek to get the balance between cross and resurrection as equal as we can. We must ask ourselves, “how will I witness to the resurrection today”? When we look back on our day before we go asleep, we must ask ourselves the same question.

Any theology which is based purely on the Cross or penance is flawed. Likewise, any piety which advocates looking for crosses to carry will inevitably lead to imbalance. Jesus, it seems to me, never looked for crosses to  carry. Indeed, the Gospels indicate quite the opposite. The plea of Jesus to “let this cup pass from me…” indicates that Jesus did not want to die on the cross. He did not seek it out or rush towards it. This is a balanced and realistic human response to pain and one we are called to follow. (Please don’t quote ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ at me when I say this!).

The other side of the coin is equally flawed and just as imbalanced. A theology or piety which refuses to acknowledge the reality of the cross or seeks to side-step it cannot call itself Christian. I have heard some evangelists preach that ‘finding Jesus in our lives’ will lead to a kind of endless ‘success’ and ‘profit’. I have even come across some small Christian sects teaching that Jesus wants us to enjoy the happiness of wealth, pleasures and profit at all costs. Not doing so, they say, is sinful!

My own experience of life has taught me that if we try to live authentically and unselfishly, more than enough crosses will come our way, and there will be no need to seek out more of them. When Jesus tells us that we must take up our cross to be his follower, he is in fact pointing us to the values of the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus was carrying his cross from the moment he was baptised by John the Baptist in the Jordan. The suffering of Calvary was no more than the inevitable result of living an honest, truthful, authentic, compassionate, generous, forgiving, humble, and consistent life. Jesus not only lived these values, he was them. He could no more compromise his way of life than deny that he was sent to usher in the Kingdom of God.

Our crosses stand before us every day: to be honest – truly honest – is a cross; to be truthful in all we say is a cross; to be authentic, compassionate, generous, forgiving, humble, consistent… all of them are crosses for us to carry, and sometimes they are very heavy crosses.

Witnessing to the Resurrection in today’s world is without doubt a cross we must take up every day. Being optimistic in the face of climate change, political turmoil, war, disease, and terror is what we are called to as a Resurrection people. In casual conversation about the news or weather we so easily allow ourselves to join the pessimism and hopelessness of those we are talking to. Avoiding this, being a voice of hope – even a tiny one – can be a cross.

Of course, the cross of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual illness is always present to us. Our own pain, the pain of those we love, the pain of grief and loss, the pain of letting go, the pain of evil, of aging, of natural disasters, all of these and more are crosses we carry.

We need never look for crosses! All we have to do is open our eyes and look around us and they are there waiting for us. But so is the resurrection, as is the Eucharist, prayer, our sacramental life and the Gospels. Maybe the biggest cross of all is trusting enough to believe that Jesus is still with us.

It would be a huge mistake for us to think that Jesus’ cross only began on Holy Thursday, when he was arrested. His wooden cross was only the culmination of all the other crosses he took up every day and painfully, exhaustingly, and yes, joyfully, carried for us. Each cross we face, he faced. The weight of each cross we carry, he carried. The pain we suffer when we take up our crosses, he suffered.

His Resurrection was his triumph over all crosses, and it will be ours too.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and over-burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jesus is alive and with us. No matter how big and how heavy our crosses are, the Risen Lord waits for us, saying “Come to me……and I will give you rest.”

Many thanks,

Brian  

If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection, please feel welcome to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie

‘Get behind me, Satan!’