“Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly”

“Faith in God, the only One, leads us to use everything that is not God only insofar as it brings us closer to him, and to detach ourselves from it insofar as it turns us away from him.” [1] Peter professed his Faith in Jesus when he proclaimed, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” [2]
 
What caused St. Peter then to turn from this Faith in Jesus as the Son of the living God? He was not detached from the things of the world. Jesus tells him, “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” He was attached to his own ideas, his own will and perhaps even the expectations that others had regarding the Messiah. It was not Saint Peter’s idea, nor his will or expectation that Jesus would have to suffer and die. He was unwilling and refused to detach from his own expectations, which caused Him to temporarily lose his faith.
 
This moment is similar to the Gospel reading for the 19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time; Peter momentarily walks on water. He has his eyes fixed on Jesus and is full of faith and is thus able to walk on water, but once he becomes distracted and is concerned about the storm, he sinks. When he detaches himself from the storm and attaches himself to Jesus, he is safe. In Chapter 16 of Matthew’s Gospel, Saint Peter has his eyes on Jesus and attaches himself to Jesus says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” However, Saint Peter then begins to detach himself from Jesus when he is told that Jesus will “suffer greatly”. Peter’s concern over Jesus’s suffering and death caused him to sink and lose faith.
 
Saint Peter knows clearly the importance of a solid faith and the challenges to that faith and has the experience to say, “Stay sober and alert. Your opponent, the devil, is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith.” [3] Once we have confessed the faith, there are ways to go:  the way of earthly power and glory or the way of the Cross. Only the way of the Cross will keep us solid in faith. The devotion to the way of the Cross or stations of the Cross remind us that we are called to imitate Jesus, who chose not the way of earthly power and glory, but rather the way of the Cross. “We know that through all the centuries, right up to the present, Christians – while in possession of the right confession – need the Lord to teach every generation anew that his way is not the way of earthly power and glory, but the way of the Cross. We know and we see that even today Christians – ourselves included – take the Lord aside in order to say to him, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to you!’ (Mt 16:22). And because we doubt that God really will forbid it, we ourselves try to prevent it by every means in our power. And so the Lord must constantly say to us, too: ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ (Mk 8:33). The whole scene thus remains uncomfortably relevant to the present, because in the end we do in fact constantly think in terms of ‘flesh and blood’ and not in terms of the Revelation that we are privileged to receive in faith.” [4]
 
What is Revelation? – Revelation is the disclosure by God of himself and his will to the human race. The disclosure comes to human beings by way of communication, which implies the communicator, who is God, the receiver; who is the human being and a transmitter or intermediary. [5] Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is the God man and the most perfect transmitter of revelation. The way of communication is not just the Word, but the Word made flesh. After the confession of Saint Peter, Jesus begins to disclose the will of the Father. “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.” [6] Saint Peter at this moment does not accept the revelation, does not accept the Father’s will. Jesus said to Saint Peter “get behind me”, because Peter was turning away from God and was an obstacle to the Father’s will. Peter was an obstacle to the Father’s will chiefly because he was so attached to his own will.
 
Have there been times in our life in which we clearly know that God has revealed His will to us?
Have there been times in our life in which we have rejected His will or disagreed with His will?
In that moment how do we actually become an obstacle to the Father’s will?
 
What was Saint Peter unable to detach himself from? What are we unable to detach our self from? If we are attached to our own ideas and sins, we cannot follow Christ. We might believe that He is Christ the Son of the Living God, but that belief will only get us so far. Belief must be followed by action, a choice of the free will. Saint James tell us, “Even the demons believe and tremble.” [7] It is not enough to believe. Jesus did not say, “Whoever wishes to come after me must believe.” He did say, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” When we deny our self we accept Christ, this is belief, and it is not the end. We must now live what we believe by taking up our cross and following Jesus.
 
In the Act of Faith we pray, “O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that your divine Son became man and died from our sins and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because you have revealed them, who are eternal truth and wisdom, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. In this faith I intend to live and die. Amen.” [8]

Why do we believe? Because God has revealed them to us.
Why can we trust God? Because He is eternal truth and wisdom and can neither deceive nor be deceived.
 
ACTIVITY – Labels
Take a Snickers bar or a can of beans.  Ask everyone how many of you think this is really a Snickers bar or how many of you think this is a can of beans.  What if it is really a can of corn and someone is tricking you, took the bean label off and put a corn label on the can?  What if someone carefully opened a Snickers wrapper and slipped a Milky Way bar in the Snickers wrapper?  Sometimes, when we begin to think too much, we become skeptical and fear that people are tricking us.
 
Why can we believe the label? Why can we trust the company? If we can believe a label and trust a company, how much more so can we believe and trust in God?    

[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church; Section 226
[2] Matthew 16:16
[3] 1 Peter 5:8-9 [Liturgy of the Hours; Night Prayer; Tuesday]
[4] Pope Benedict XVI; Jesus of Nazareth Vol. 1; page 299
[5] Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.; Modern Catholic Dictionary; page 467
[6] Matthew 16:21
[7] James 2:19
[8] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church; Appendix A; Common Prayers