You Duped Me O Lord: Reflections on the readings for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

If you haven’t already read the readings you can find them here.

Jeremiah 20:7-9
Psalm 63
Romans 12:1-2
Matthew 16:21-27

Several people have “challenged” the Lord in the Bible. Few have been successful. Abraham negotiated with God over the number of righteous people who might be living in Sodom. Moses challenged Him several times, dissuading Him from destroying the Israelites who turned to false idols within days after being released from Egypt. And just two weeks ago we read about the Canaanite woman who argued with Jesus over the healing of her daughter, a non-Jew. Some of the prophets also had contentious discussions with the Lord. Consider Jonah who tried to flee from God and the task to which he was being assigned and ended up in the belly of a great fish. The Lord does not take it lightly when people flat out refuse to trust in Him.

Jeremiah feels deceived by God. He feels like he has been made into a dupe, someone who is gullible. He feels this way because, when the Lord called him to be His prophet He told Jeremiah, “... to all to whom I send you ... whatever I command you you shall speak. Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 1:7-8) And now, in today’s reading, Jeremiah is being persecuted by those to whom the Lord sent him, including being beaten and tossed into a cistern. He is greeted with violence and derision. He comes to realize that God promised to be with him but did not say he wouldn’t be treated poorly. He resolves not to speak God’s word but finds that it burns like a fire within him, just as God’s word should be burning within us. Later in this chapter he realizes “... the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble. ... LORD of hosts, you test the just, you see mind and heart,” and he resolves to praise the Lord.

This in some way prefigures Jesus’ words to his disciples and to us: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.” (John 15:18) Jesus was warning them that, just like Jeremiah, His followers would be reviled and persecuted.

The psalm speaks of positive things, which Jeremiah perhaps came to realize after he decides to praise the Lord. The psalmist sees the power and the glory of God, like the burning within the prophet who must speak on the Lord’s behalf. As the Lord promised to be with Jeremiah, the psalmist finds comfort in the presence of the Lord, in the shadow of His wings.

This week’s excerpt from Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans is timeless. We can even see a connection to the message Jeremiah was trying to preach; turn away from the paths you are on; this world and false prophets are misleading you. Jeremiah had to deal with false prophets, just as we deal with the “fake news” of today. Think of all of the doomsday prophecies that have been spread for the last fifty or sixty years none of which have come to pass. And yet people, and even governments, have been duped by them. Saint Paul has the answer that leads to sanity, “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” This is the kind of peace that Jesus promised; spiritual peace; not what the world promises. This message goes hand in glove with Paul’s message in his letter to the Ephesians, “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God ...” (Ephesians 6: 12-13)

Although this week’s gospel selection comes immediately after the section we read last week it seems in stark contrast to it. Last week Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, declared that Jesus was the Son of God and Jesus declared him the rock on whom He would build His Church. This week Jesus is chastising Peter and calling him Satan. How could this turnaround happen so quickly? It’s all about the Cross.

At the very beginning of His ministry Jesus went into the desert to be tempted by the Devil (Satan). What was the nature of this temptation? Satan was trying to tempt Jesus to divert from His mission of salvation, the Cross. At the wedding at Cana, when His Blessed Mother notified Him that the wine had run out Jesus remarked, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4) Performing His first public miracle put Him on the path to the Cross. Whenever Jesus referred to “His Hour,” He was pointing to the Cross.

Later, immediately after His entry into Jerusalem, Jesus tells Philip and Andrew, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” (John 12:23) Bishop Sheen puts this into perspective: “At Cana, Our Lord had told His mother that His ‘Hour’ had not yet come; during His public ministry no man could lay a hand on Him because His ‘Hour’ had not yet come; but here He announced, within a few days of His death, that the time had come when He would be glorified. The glorification referred to the lowest depths of His humiliation on the Cross, but it also referred to His triumph. He did not say the Hour was near for Him to die, but for Him to be glorified.” (Life of Christ, emphasis added)

Thus we can see the sense of Jesus reaction to Peter’s attempt to divert Him from the Cross. At the Last Supper Jesus tells us: “But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.” (John 12:27) And this is what Jesus is trying to prepare them for in this gospel reading from Matthew. Peter, as well as the others, still did not comprehend Jesus’ mission and what was necessary for Him to effect the salvation of the world. They were still thinking like the Jews of their time, that the Messiah would be a warrior king like David, waging physical war against the Romans and restoring the nation of Israel. But Jesus repeatedly showed them that, like St. Paul tells us in Ephesians, it’s a spiritual war. Thus He referred to Satan’s role, not Caesar’s. Even after the Resurrection we see their lack of complete understanding as they ask Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

The message will begin to come clear to them at the Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descends on Mary and the disciples in the Upper Room. They will also begin to fully understand the final words of this selection, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” 

And that is the same message for us, to deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily and live our lives for Jesus. Only then will we receive our reward. “For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct."