Bellarmine University
"God’s Ways versus Our Ways”
Rev. Ronald Knott
August 31, 2014
Peter took Jesus aside and began to scold him.
Matthew 16:21-27
Up to this point in the gospel, things were going very well in the ministry of Jesus. A mute man was able to speak. Five thousand had been miraculously fed on one day and four thousand on another. A blind man had regained his sight. A successful exorcism had been performed on a young demon-possessed girl. Another young girl had been lifted well from her sick bed. A woman with a hemorrhage had been restored to health. An insane man had given back his sanity. A man with a withered hand had had it made healthy again. A leper had been cleansed from his leprosy. A crippled man was made able to walk. A storm was calmed. Peter was able to walk on water. A deaf man with a speech impediment was able to hear and speak plainly.
Peter was so overcome with excitement by all these things that he was moved to call Jesus the "Messiah." He was the very first one to do this. The "Messiah" was the "promised one to come" that Jews had looked forward to for centuries, one who would do such things as these. The lights went on for Peter! He had come to the conclusion that Jesus had to be the "Messiah” that had finally come!
Jesus immediately took the wind out of his sails, telling him that the Messiah would not only do wondrous things, but would have to go through great suffering, rejection by religious authorities and even death on a cross. Only then would he rise victorious from the dead after three days.
Peter did not like what he was hearing, so he took Jesus aside to scold him. "Look, Jesus, we are on a roll here. The people are behind you. Soon we will be able to conquer these foreign Roman invaders occupying our country and finally throw them out. Then you can be king and we can all be part of your royal court. Please don't blow it now with all that negative talk about suffering and death!"
When he heard this, Jesus spun around in disgust and said to himself, "Satan said he would be back to tempt me again and here he is disguised as Peter!" Jesus then looked at all of his disciples and addressed Peter directly, "Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking like God, but like a human being! I went through these kinds of temptations in the desert before I began my ministry! I rejected them then and I reject them now! That is not what God wants from me!"
As Peter's face fell, Jesus addressed the whole crowd following him, "Now listen up because you need to get one thing straight! If you are going to follow me, you have to be ready to suffer with me, for whoever loses his life will my sake will save it. Otherwise, if you go down the path that Peter has just proposed, you will certainly lose it! You will not be thinking like God, but like human beings!"
Just because Jesus stood up to Peter in this story, we do not need to conclude from this story that it's never OK to scold and argue with God. The fact is that many of the major figures in the Bible and church history argued, scolded and had words with God - people like Job, Jeremiah and Theresa of Avila. Just as Peter learned a lesson today, sometimes the only way they learned what God's will was for them was through a struggle. As any good teacher knows, encouraging, challenging, questioning, discussion and debate are the best way to learn. Like students, when disciples are allowed to think through and discover things for themselves, the best learning takes place.
The prophet, Jeremiah, in our first reading, is a case in point. Jeremiah was a very young man, maybe about your age, when God called him to be a prophet and to preach in his name. God says to Jeremiah, "Hey, Jeremiah! I've had my eye on you since the moment of your conception. I want you to go to the people and preach to them for me!" What was Jeremiah's response? "No thank you! I'm not interested in preaching to anybody! I'm too young! I have other things I want to do in life! Besides, I'm not good at public speaking!" God snaps back, "Do as I say and don't give me those lame excuses! Wherever I send you, I will be with you! And don't worry about what to say, I will put the right words into you mouth as you go along."
This wasn't the last time that Jeremiah argued with God. After he was deeply involved in his ministry as prophet and everything seemed to be going wrong, Jeremiah returns to give God a royal chewing out. "You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped. When I speak in your name, I am a butt of people's jokes and mockery. I tell you what! I quit! Take this job and shove it. I ain't working her no more! From now on I am never going to mention your name again!"
After he had unloaded his guns on God, Jeremiah must have felt better because he follows his rant with these words. "On the other hand, your words are like a fire in my heart. They are embedded in my bones. I grow tired trying to hold them in. I guess I'll just have to keep going!"
(Students!) Many of us grew up being told that faith is about unthinking trust and acceptance of God, the Bible, the teachings of the Church and the trials of life. To question any of those things was to demonstrate a weak faith and a blasphemous heart. However, faith does not grow through unthinking submission, but through a process of questioning that leads to understanding. Just as Jacob wrestled with the angel, a real commitment to God often involves a deep, honest and sustained wrestling with God. The only sin is never to enter the ring, but just walk away because the struggle is too much trouble! The real sin is to dismiss God without ever really engaging him, not arguing with him! If you insist on rejecting God and his Church, at least do it after an honest fight! At least, give God a chance to win!
(As your pastor here at Bellamine,) I challenged you to enter the ring with the rest of us this year. We go into the ring as a tag team. Together, we wrestle with God - in here and in the classrooms. We need to put up a good fight and not wimp out just because we are lazy or scared. God will win, of course, but when the match is over, we will all know more about God and how he operates than we did when we first entered the ring. We will have flexed spiritual muscles we never knew we had and we will be strong enough to handle the inevitable struggles of marriage and family life or priesthood or whatever profession we end up in!
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Sunday, August 24, 2014
August 24 - 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Bellarmine University
“Rock Solid”
Rev. Ronald Knott
August 24, 2014
You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.
What ever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and
whatever you loose of earth will be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16
Right after this homily, I will invite you to joining me once again in saying the Creed, the summary of the basics of our faith. In it we will profess to be in a church that has four qualities – a church that is one, holy, catholic and apostolic!
Last week, when Jesus was outside Jewish territory, the readings gave us an opportunity to about our church being catholic, meaning universal, inclusive and welcoming to all. We see the catholic side of our church every time one pope is elected and another ones dies – bishops of every color and from nation on earth. The last four popes in turn have been Italian, Polish, German and now Argentinian. The next one could be Korean, Nigerian, Mexican, Filipino, Australian, Ugandan, American or any other nationality on earth.
This week, the readings offer me a chance to talk to you about our church being apostolic, one that goes back in an unbroken line to the apostles themselves, with Peter as their designated leader. The only reason our headquarters is in Rome, rather than Jerusalem or Antioch is that Peter, head of the apostles, preached in Rome, died in Rome and is buried in Rome. How can I ever forget that picture of Pope Francis hugging the box holding the bones of St. Peter last June 29 before they were reburied under the high altar in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome?
You have all seen the big church in Rome that is named after Peter the apostle – Saint Peter’s Basilica. Saint Peter was crucified, like Christ but upside down, around 64. Two hundred years after his death, the Emperor Constantine erected a church in honor of Saint Peter on Vatican Hill. The fact that Emperor Constantine built his church over a cemetery and on a slope makes no sense unless he wanted to mark the grave of Saint Peter himself. It has long been believed that this was the spot where Peter was buried. The original church was torn down in the 16thy century and the present church was built on the same site with the altar in the same spot. It wasn’t till 1939 that excavations underneath the floor of Saint Peter’s Basilica uncovered a Roman cemetery and at a spot directly beneath the main altar was discovered a small shrine with a box of bones that are believed to be those of Saint Peter himself.
Pope Francis is the 266th continuous successor to hold the “keys” given to Saint Peter in today’s gospel. Pope Francis is Peter in today’s church! He holds the power “to bind and loose” that was given to the apostle Peter in today’s gospel. When we say we believe the church is apostolic, we are saying that we believe that the line of succession is unbroken all the way back to the apostle Peter himself.
We have to remember that Peter was a nickname that Jesus gave this apostle in today’s reading. Peter means rock. His real name was Cephas. “Cephas, from now you will be called “Rock” and on this “rock” I will build my church.”
Now, what about all the corruption that has happened throughout history? Should we not just start a fresh new church? Again, look at what Jesus said to Peter in today’s gospel! He tells Peter that “the gates of hell will not prevail against the church he has built on Peter.” He does not say that evil will not infect and afflict the church. He does, however, say that it will not prevail against it! As Vatican Council II said, “the church is semper reformanda, always in need of reform! We are indeed the field of weeds and wheat growing side by side that Jesus talked about. Here is one of my favorite quotes by a faithful Catholic who has a love-the relationship with the Church.
How much I must criticize you, my Church, and
yet how much I love you! How you have made me
suffer and yet how much I owe you. I should like to
see you destroyed and yet I need your presence.
You have given me so much scandal and yet you
have made me understand holiness. Never in the
world have I seen anything more obscurantist,
more compromised, more false yet never have I
touched anything more pure, more generous or
more beautiful. How often I have felt like slamming
the door of my soul in your face - and how often I
have prayed that I might die in your arms! No, I
cannot be free of you, for I am one with you, even
though not completely you. Then, too - where
should I go? To build another? But I cannot build
another without the same defects, for they are my
own defects I bear within me. And again, if I build
one, it will be my Church, and no longer Christ's.
Carlo Carretto
Those who would like to forget the apostolic nature of the church are like people who would take the family album and cut out all the people and events they don’t like and find embarrassing so that they can appear to be clean and pure. The only problem with that is that they will always be clipping and editing because the church will always have a sinful side - it has always has, and always will be, made up of sinful people. I am happy we have left all the losers, crooks, bad popes and sinners in our family album because it is indeed proof to me that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church founded on The Rock! We members of the church have had every chance possible to destroy it over the last 2,000 years, but the fact that it is still going, is still as healthy as it is, is proof to me that Christ is still “with” the church he founded on Peter the Apostle.
“Rock Solid”
Rev. Ronald Knott
August 24, 2014
You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.
What ever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and
whatever you loose of earth will be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16
Right after this homily, I will invite you to joining me once again in saying the Creed, the summary of the basics of our faith. In it we will profess to be in a church that has four qualities – a church that is one, holy, catholic and apostolic!
Last week, when Jesus was outside Jewish territory, the readings gave us an opportunity to about our church being catholic, meaning universal, inclusive and welcoming to all. We see the catholic side of our church every time one pope is elected and another ones dies – bishops of every color and from nation on earth. The last four popes in turn have been Italian, Polish, German and now Argentinian. The next one could be Korean, Nigerian, Mexican, Filipino, Australian, Ugandan, American or any other nationality on earth.
This week, the readings offer me a chance to talk to you about our church being apostolic, one that goes back in an unbroken line to the apostles themselves, with Peter as their designated leader. The only reason our headquarters is in Rome, rather than Jerusalem or Antioch is that Peter, head of the apostles, preached in Rome, died in Rome and is buried in Rome. How can I ever forget that picture of Pope Francis hugging the box holding the bones of St. Peter last June 29 before they were reburied under the high altar in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome?
You have all seen the big church in Rome that is named after Peter the apostle – Saint Peter’s Basilica. Saint Peter was crucified, like Christ but upside down, around 64. Two hundred years after his death, the Emperor Constantine erected a church in honor of Saint Peter on Vatican Hill. The fact that Emperor Constantine built his church over a cemetery and on a slope makes no sense unless he wanted to mark the grave of Saint Peter himself. It has long been believed that this was the spot where Peter was buried. The original church was torn down in the 16thy century and the present church was built on the same site with the altar in the same spot. It wasn’t till 1939 that excavations underneath the floor of Saint Peter’s Basilica uncovered a Roman cemetery and at a spot directly beneath the main altar was discovered a small shrine with a box of bones that are believed to be those of Saint Peter himself.
Pope Francis is the 266th continuous successor to hold the “keys” given to Saint Peter in today’s gospel. Pope Francis is Peter in today’s church! He holds the power “to bind and loose” that was given to the apostle Peter in today’s gospel. When we say we believe the church is apostolic, we are saying that we believe that the line of succession is unbroken all the way back to the apostle Peter himself.
We have to remember that Peter was a nickname that Jesus gave this apostle in today’s reading. Peter means rock. His real name was Cephas. “Cephas, from now you will be called “Rock” and on this “rock” I will build my church.”
Now, what about all the corruption that has happened throughout history? Should we not just start a fresh new church? Again, look at what Jesus said to Peter in today’s gospel! He tells Peter that “the gates of hell will not prevail against the church he has built on Peter.” He does not say that evil will not infect and afflict the church. He does, however, say that it will not prevail against it! As Vatican Council II said, “the church is semper reformanda, always in need of reform! We are indeed the field of weeds and wheat growing side by side that Jesus talked about. Here is one of my favorite quotes by a faithful Catholic who has a love-the relationship with the Church.
How much I must criticize you, my Church, and
yet how much I love you! How you have made me
suffer and yet how much I owe you. I should like to
see you destroyed and yet I need your presence.
You have given me so much scandal and yet you
have made me understand holiness. Never in the
world have I seen anything more obscurantist,
more compromised, more false yet never have I
touched anything more pure, more generous or
more beautiful. How often I have felt like slamming
the door of my soul in your face - and how often I
have prayed that I might die in your arms! No, I
cannot be free of you, for I am one with you, even
though not completely you. Then, too - where
should I go? To build another? But I cannot build
another without the same defects, for they are my
own defects I bear within me. And again, if I build
one, it will be my Church, and no longer Christ's.
Carlo Carretto
Those who would like to forget the apostolic nature of the church are like people who would take the family album and cut out all the people and events they don’t like and find embarrassing so that they can appear to be clean and pure. The only problem with that is that they will always be clipping and editing because the church will always have a sinful side - it has always has, and always will be, made up of sinful people. I am happy we have left all the losers, crooks, bad popes and sinners in our family album because it is indeed proof to me that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church founded on The Rock! We members of the church have had every chance possible to destroy it over the last 2,000 years, but the fact that it is still going, is still as healthy as it is, is proof to me that Christ is still “with” the church he founded on Peter the Apostle.
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