24th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle B

What is the cost of discipleship?  Let’s be honest, Christianity can be a tough sell.  In order to follow Jesus, it means making sacrifices – changing and forming our lives to model what Jesus taught us; to what God wants of us.  For many this is a difficult path to follow and even harder to explain to others.

The Word for the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Isaiah 50:5-9a
Psalm 114:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
James 2:14-18
Mark 8:27-35

Our first reading is an elegant poem from second Isaiah.  Coming from one of his well-known “servant songs,” this first reading is a lament of sorts, as Isaiah bemoans the trials he must endure in his mission as a prophet.  For all his complaints, however, he knows his mission is just.  With the Lord God behind him, who could prove him wrong?  Our Psalm reflects this idea of God standing behind us, both in this life and the next, as we sing, “I walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.”  We are the Lord’s hands, feet, and voice here on Earth.

Our first reading can also be seen as a foreshadowing for our Gospel.  Continuing our travels with Jesus through Mark’s Gospel, we have Jesus and his Apostles en-route to Ceasarea Philippi.  During the journey (some 25 miles from where they were in Bethsaida) he takes the opportunity to ask the disciples what the people are saying about him.  He then turns the question to them, wherein Peter says, “you are the Christ.”  A little while later he begins to teach them about how the Son of Man must suffer and tells his disciples that he will be killed.  This is the first time in Mark’s gospel where he speaks of his eventual death and resurrection.  Hearing this, Peter takes Jesus aside to rebuke him – none of the disciples what to hear about his death.  Jesus fires back at Peter, “Get behind me, Satan,” taking the opportunity to remind his disciples that there is going to be a cost for what they’re doing, but taking up that cross will also leads to their salvation.

None of us wants to suffer.  We like to think that having faith in God is enough.  Especially for those of us who live in the USA, where Christians are not persecuted or executed for their beliefs.  Yet to follow Christ means getting our hands dirty.  This is what St. James is explaining in our second reading.  Here he confronts the age-old issue of what leads to salvation, faith or good works.  James teaches us that it takes both and that one must follow the other.  One cannot profess to have faith if it is not followed by good works, because that same faith will manifest itself in performing good works.

Final Thoughts:
We’re all familiar with the phrase, “put your money where your mouth is.”  It means that if we’re going to profess something, we must be willing to pay the price.  If our conviction is true, we’re willing, if not eager, to place that bet.  If there is any doubt, however, we hold back, especially when there’s “real money” on the table.  Following the Christian life can lead to many joyful rewards, both in this life and the next.  We also have to consider, however, that following our faith can also lead to sacrifices, even suffering.  As our readings suggest, we must be willing to go “all-in” on this bet.  Yes, there is risk, but as scripture reminds us, God’s got our backs.

Being a Christian in today’s world is an extraordinary challenge – not just in those countries that have oppressive regimes, but right here in the United States.  We Catholics are fighting a battle on two fronts.  On one side, we have a vast secular movement that preaches a gospel of self-determination and “me first.”  On the other side we have a society and a media that seems to belittle our Christian faith – much of which is very mis-characterized, mis-interpreted, and mis-understood, often times by our fellow non-Catholic Christian brothers and sisters who tend to loudly proclaim religious beliefs that I can’t find anywhere in our scripture or in our Catholic tradition, yet somehow gets us Catholics lumped in with a vocal and misguided minority.  Even worse, we Catholics also face criticism from those claiming to be Catholic, yet have no authority to do so.

As Jesus explains in the Parable of the Dishonest Steward (Luke 16:1-13) he tells us that we cannot serve two masters – God and mammon.  Mammon here is not just money, but the idea of wealth at any cost.  In other words, seeking to enrich oneself instead of helping others.  We have a serious epidemic of selfishness in this country that runs counter to our Catholic belief and tradition, making it that much more difficult to follow Jesus.  So we need to ask ourselves, are we still up to the challenge?