22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 16:21-27
‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up

his cross and follow me”.

Reflection
Matthew 16:21-27
POINTS TO PONDER

Peter has just been congratulated as the rock on which Jesus will build his church. He is comfortable in a theology of grace and glory. Suddenly that rock looks sandy and unsafe.

Jesus calls him abruptly out of his comfort zone into the real world where suffering must be faced (cross is used here as a proverbial term for suffering and agony, not referring specifically to Jesus’ crucifixion).

One of the ideas in the gospel is that we take up the cross of doing what is right and being willing to bear it. Like parents who try to explain, cajole, encourage and define what is right for their children, even when they are thought foolish. Jesus bore a cross to the end of his convictions and love.

Taking the cross is also accepting and living with pain, suffering of any sort, and the griefs of life we can do nothing about. Crosses may be inflicted on us by others.

We know of people who have accepted a heavy burden in life and who ploughed tough furrows, through no fault of their own. They have been helped often by the example of the one who carried the cross to the end. Help often came to them also from family, friends and neighbours.

On the way to Calvary, Jesus was helped by one man, remembered forever, Simon from Africa. Help can come from expected or unexpected quarters, but help there must be if we are to bear our crosses in life. In prayer we might ask how we help those near us carry the burdens of their lives.

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