Notes:
Catholic Manhood Nuggets - The Conditions of Discipleship: Get out of your comfort zone.
September 3rd
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 16:21-28
The First Prediction of the Passion.*
21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he* must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.o
22* Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
23 He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
The Conditions of Discipleship.*
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,* take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.*
26 What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.
28 Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090323.cfm
Matthew 16:21-27:
Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
1 ) Where you put your time that is what you treasure.
This passage from the Bible talks about a person who wishes to become a Christian and be close to Jesus. They must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus. Doing this will make them closer to Jesus and they will be rewarded at the final judgment.
2) The deeper your faith, deepens your faith.
In his prediction of his own sufferings and death, Christ told his disciples that they should expect to go through severe trials in this life - even the potential of an untimely death. He admonished them to not be overcome by fear or anxiety in these difficult times, but to remain steadfast in their faith, even if it leads to hardship. Christ's words offer us hope in the face of any suffering we may experience, reminding us that it is through faith that we can overcome anything.
3) The more you suffer, the more everything else looks incrementally easier around you.
Daily carrying of our Christian cross can be and is for many, a prolonged martyrdom. Poverty, ill-health, cruelty and hardheartedness met with at home and in neighbors can be heavy crosses that only a truly Christian shoulder can bear. But, if we were offered health, happiness, peace, wealth and power for the next fifty or seventy years on this earth, in exchange for an eternal heaven after death, what rational one among us would accept that offer?
4) Preparation is the key to opportunity, do this with the Lord and not on your own.
Christians know that this life is a time of preparation, which makes us ready for the eternal reward that Christ has won for us. Every trainee knows that one must undergo certain hardships and sufferings in order to merit graduation into one's chosen profession or trade. May God grant that every one of us will hear these words of welcome.
[Matthew 16:23]
"He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
5) Learn to recognize distractions, as they are not of God.
Peter's refusal to accept Jesus' predicted suffering and death is seen as a serious theological error on Peter's part, and the disciple is addressed in terms that recall Jesus' dismissal of the devil in the temptation account (Mt 4:10: "Get away, Satan!"). Peter's satanic purpose is emphasized by Matthew's addition to the Marcan source of the words "You are an obstacle to me."
