24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Son of Man must suffer Mk. 8:27-35

When Jesus told His disciples that He would have to Sacrifice Himself,

Peter objected. 

Now at first thought Peter’s objection made a lot of sense. 

Why sacrifice yourself?

Why take up your cross?

It doesn’t make any sense.  

Until one looks at it from this perspective. 

If a child is sick; or hungry or naked

Do not parents sacrifice themselves for the child;

If a platoon is under attack,

Do not soldiers sacrifices themselves for the life of the platoon?

If an athlete wants to win,

Do they not make great physical sacrifices

To win the prize?

Sacrificing ourselves for something that is important or valuable to us is very common and understandable. 

The world was dying;

From war, hatred, greed, division, envy, and the list goes on and on.

But when it comes to saving the world,

What could one person’s sacrifice possibly do?

Nothing if you are merely human. 

But if you are God,

Everything?

So Jesus Who just revealed to His disciples that He was the Christ told them that He was going to sacrifice Himself for the life of the world. 

He was going to take the sins of the world upon Himself 

And sacrifice Himself to save us. 

He would give His back to those who beat him, 

His cheeks to those who would plucke His beard 

And His face he would not shield from buffets and spitting.

By His wounds we would be healed 

What Jesus was facing was a spiritual battle 

Between good and evil 

Between life and death 

And the cross was the only remedy and means to overcome them. 

And so Jesus knew He had to sacrifice Himself to save us. 

Even though at the time Peter did not understand 

And maybe sometimes we do not either.