Lectio Reflection - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mark 8:27-35

welcome to the Center for Christian spirituality we're delighted that you're able to join us as we reflect together on the Gospel reading for the 24th Sunday in ordinary time the Gospel reading taken from the Gospel according to Luke Jesus went on with his disciples to the village of Caesarea Philippi and on the way he asked his disciples who do people say that I am and they answered him John the Baptist and others Elijah and still others one of the prophets he asked them but who do you say I am Peter answered him you are the Messiah and he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great sufferings and to be rejected by the elders the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again he said all this quite openly and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke eminent but turning and looking at his disciples he rebuked Peter and said get behind me Satan for you was setting your mind not on divine things but on human things he called the crowd with his disciples and said to them if anyone to become my followers let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me for those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it this is a watershed in the in the gospel a very clear division as it were that up until now the disciples have been struggling but they are fixing to have come to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah a clear statement that he is the Messiah however heavy which he achieve that that goal Jesus now sets out to explain to them what sort of a scientist and in this section of the gospel not just the gospel but the section you've brought three forecasts of the passion now there's a bit of a pattern Jesus says what's going to happen is going to suffer there's a reaction from the apostles of the twelve which is a negative one and then there is a clarifying discourse about discipleship so what we for here's Jesus is pointing head to the fact that he will suffer and that he have died in other words that like the Christ is going to be a suffering Messiah Peter not ready to accept that showing that while he has come to recognize Jesus as Messiah he wasn't ready for the next step we should to see there's a sort of the sign that Jesus was going to be and then Jesus gives all his all talk about what it leads to be a disciple there's that famous phrase there anyone will come after me let him deny himself type you can take up his cross and follow me there's a dial there I'm everything is correct I think I apparently uses the word denial twice here at was Peter Bennett no really Peter does deny Jesus did edit the cross said Luke as the word daily taking up your cross daily here so he's not saying that we're going to be crucified physically but that we need to have the heart of Jesus the fee to Calvary is not what they did to Jesus or Jesus did mainly to give himself against offerings to the Father if that attitude that we need to have and it's clearly saying that Peter has to learn not only is Jesus going to suffer but those who follow him will be expected to suffer as well hmm I I marvel at the way Jesus is able to teach you know a skilled or whatever would you want to edit if you want to use with teacher because he sets the scene whereby he evokes from them a commitment of who he is and then having established their he then starts to draw out some of the implications of being as you said this Messiah but not any Messiah and I just find that really interesting the way in which Jesus goes about that teaching I find this quite disturbing I really didn't believe when I heard it the first time Jesus says get behind me Satan I thought you've got to be kidding about his good friend Peter and then I was struck by that Knik Allah scheme talking about the useless and disciples and I identify here with the disciples as learners trying to understand what it is to follow this man so one minute they get all the answers right you have Messiah and then we didn't get behind me Satan made such strong language for me the undercurrent is Jesus trying to teach them who she is did get me and they don't get him so I find it both reassuring the tremendously graphic in the way of the dialogue between the teacher and the yes mm-hmm while Jesus is teaching there's a sense in which this is also a temptation Jesus because the Luke and Matthew thee into the desert yeah are alternative ways of the beside economic Messiah power workers military yeah and then in a sense perhaps the strong claim which is coming from that quite point of view that the error that they presented stood but it is a temptation well some interesting thoughts that have come to us from the our reflection on the gospel we invite you now to take a few moments to reflect yourselves and what is it you see and hear and wonder in question in that passage from the Gospel of Luke of Mark sorry Jesus went on with to the village of Caesarea Philippi and all the way he asked his disciples who do people say that I am and they answered him John the Baptist and others Elijah and still others one of the prophets he asked them but who do you say that I am Peter answered him you are the Messiah but he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders the chief priests are the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again he said all this quite openly and present him aside and began to rebuke him but turning and looking at his disciples he rebuked Peter and said get behind me Satan for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things he called the crowd with his disciples and said to them if you want to become my followers let them a deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me for those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it I see a little bit in this like a couple of Sundays ago in John's Gospel and the commitment or the act of faith that was there on the lips of Peter about Jesus just invites me to remember yeah I don't always get it right I do muck things up I do make mistakes but my faith can still be strong in spite of that and I just want to reflect then that what I say is it really coming out of what I believe and do I have the confidence when faced with challenges to be able to engage and live and see that through I took up the the phrase there that if anyone after me let him deny himself I think to die I was important it's clear that the journey to God involves suffering and I think the basic suffering is part of being a pastor at all those extra big things it's really having to go against your own wheels I think self-denial in other words the dying self in order to to live the gospel I think it's one of the great suffering easier and that is part of the journey to God so I thought that I might to focus on that for this week that we need to deny ourselves as that's consciously to to do that you're angry and for me the image was about I'm picking up your cross and following me sometimes I ponder about how well I with with what attitude do I pick up that cross sometimes hmm I don't I don't do that in the way I think Jesus is inviting me to do because that's part of the disciple sometimes I do it but grudgingly without without any joy or sense of God's will in this situation our response to the gospel is different for each of us what is it that you have heard and reflected upon that you want to be a part of your life striving you through that response to grow deeper in your love for God and to enter more into the lives of others take a moment now to reflect upon that we can very easily make a commitment to this or to that and five minutes later it's all gone out the window but we can only accomplish it we know deep down when God is with us and we're aware of the presence of that God in our lives we invite you to take a moment to pray that God will be very much in your mind in your hearts as you embrace the commitment that you want to honor in the course of this week we come into the end of our time of reflection together on this 24th Sunday in ordinary time we thank you for being with us and invited you to join us again next week when the gospel of the 25th Sunday in ordinary time will be the gospel that we will wrestle and West rest with for now as is our custom we pray the prayer from the opening liturgy of this Sunday look upon us O God creator and ruler of all things and that we may feel the working of your mercy grant that we may serve you with all our heart through Christ our Lord you

Channel: Centre for Christian Spirituality

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Keywords: Mark 8:27-35, Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection, Peter’s Declaration about Jesus, Jesus, Christian, Catholic, Bible, Ministry, Faith, God, Spirituality, Bible Group, Theology, Bishop David Walker, Pope Francis

Id: fBRODZZc41E

Length: 12min 29sec (749 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 09 2018