Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity
“You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’”
Summary
What is in the way often IS the way. Sometimes in life what seems like the obvious path to success ends in failure; yet failure, when it comes, can leads us down unexpected new paths. In Matthew 16:21-28, Jesus yells at Peter, calling him a stumbling block: a hindrance, an obstacle. This same Peter will later be called the rock, the strong foundation on which the church will be built. No one wants to be a stumbling block for others, no one wants to trip and fall but it is when life brings us to our knees that we acknowledge how dependant we are on God and how much we have to learn. For Peter the cross is a stumbling block yet without it there is no resurrection, no new life. Jesus asks us to look at life, its successes and failures, through God’s eyes: where is the kingdom of God being revealed? What do we have to learn? What do we need to let go of before we can receive the new life that God is putting in our hands?
FIRST READING
Jeremiah 15:15-21
O Lord, you know;
remember me and visit me,
and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance do not take me away;
know that on your account I suffer insult.
Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart;
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
I did not sit in the company of merrymakers,
nor did I rejoice;
under the weight of your hand I sat alone,
for you had filled me with indignation.
Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook,
like waters that fail.
Therefore, thus says the Lord:
If you turn back, I will take you back,
and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
you shall serve as my mouth.
It is they who will turn to you,
not you who will turn to them.
And I will make you to this people
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
to save you and deliver you,
says the Lord.
I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.
GOSPEL
Matthew 16.21-28
‘From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’
Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want 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 will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
‘For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.’
