GOSPEL READING REFLECTION
FOR SEPTEMBER 12
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
********************************************************************************************************
The Cross is a saving obstacle!
At this point in His public life, Our Lord openly reveals His mission to His apostles. Peter, speaking for the apostles, realizes that Jesus is “the Christ,” or the Messiah, the one who will deliver the Chosen People, but not what Jesus is to do.
- The Messiah’s mission includes being rejected by Israel's religious authorities, to suffer greatly, to be put to death, and then to rise from
- the dead on the third day.
- Though it is his mission, it is still extremely humanly hard for Our Lord to face, a temptation countered by Jesus’ strong words to Peter, rebuking Satan, meaning adversary or tempter.
- Christ is true man and no human being wants to suffer greatly and die, yet for Christ, this is God’s plan. This plan requires self-denial, even on Our Lord’s part.
Our Lord then shines a light on God’s way of thinking:
“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
and that of the gospel will save it.”
