Jesus Challenges Us

We often encounter people who seek and desire a modern, informal, yet unchallenging Church. Some try to teach that just as Jesus rose from the dead, we too should be able to live like Jesus: rejoicing, but never grieving. However, if we preach the resurrection without the cross, we risk acting as Peter did in the Gospel.

Peter had just proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, but he didn’t understand that Jesus’ mission wasn’t to bring wealth and glory to Israel. Jesus knew that being the Messiah required him to give his life for all people. In a sense, Peter was tempting Jesus to avoid a painful death and use his divine power to bring prosperity. Like Satan’s temptations in the desert, Peter wanted Jesus to take the easy way out to glory.

Instead, Jesus challenges us to deny ourselves. Today, this phrase isn’t very popular among those who say we should be free to satisfy all our desires. We see a society that tells us everyone can achieve financial success and live a comfortable life. As long as we center our lives on our own pleasure and comfort, we are rejecting the cross.

Denying oneself means choosing God’s will over our own.

It means being willing to suffer for being honest.

It means giving God first place in our lives.

It means that we get more joy from serving others than from serving ourselves.

This is what Paul is talking about in this Sunday’s second reading when he says that we must offer ourselves as a “living sacrifice.” Or, as Jesus says, we lose our lives for Him, only to find them when we love and serve Him. That is where we find life, and life in abundance.

Perhaps the image of parents will help us understand this mystery. A father and a mother will lose much of their freedom when they bring a child into the world. They will have to make many sacrifices, including sacrificing much sleep. But they find a new joy in the eyes of that child. Dear brothers and sisters, we are all called to relinquish our self-centered lives so that we may find the joy of living for God.

May the Lord always give you His peace.

Fr. Lalo Jara, OFM
Pastor, Mission San Luis Rey Parish