He Was The Suffering Servant 21st in ordinary time A

The Los Angeles Times Syndicate published a story of a commercial airline flight cancellation which resulted in a long line of travelers trying to get booked on another flight. One man in the line grew increasingly impatient with the slow-moving line. Suddenly, he pushed his way to the front and angrily demanded a first-class ticket on the next available flight. "I'm sorry," said the ticket agent, "but I'll have to first take care of the people who were ahead of you in the line." The irate man then pounded his fist on the ticket counter, saying, "Do you have any idea who I am?" Whereupon, the ticket agent picked up the public address microphone and said, "Attention please! There is a gentleman at the ticket counter who does not know who he is. If there is anyone in the airport who can identify him, please come to the counter." Hearing this, the man retreated, and the people waiting in line burst into applause.

Today's Gospel includes the Apostle Peter's answer to the question of Jesus' identity. "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus asks. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God," Peter answers (Mt. 16:15-16). Perhaps Peter did not at first realize the full significance of his own confession. Maybe it was only on the other side of Good Friday and Easter that Peter truly understood that Jesus is the Christ who has come to save us from sin, from bondage, from spiritual emptiness, and even from death itself. Jesus is the Christ -- the Anointed One -- who anoints us with the saving Grace of God.

Matthew's Gospel says: "From then on Jesus (the Messiah) started to indicate to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly there at the hands of the elders and the chief priests, and the scribes, and to be put to death ..." (Mt. 16:21). For Jesus, going to Jerusalem meant suffering, rejection, anger, resentment, loneliness, betrayal, violence and ultimately death. And from here on through the life of Christ, we get this pictorial image of Him literally moving into His pain. He knows that if He goes to Jerusalem there will be pain and suffering, and He literally leans into it.

It is important for us to think about this because many of us are living what might be called a "pain- avoidance" style of life. The basic principal on which we operate is "Avoid pain at all costs." We fear pain, we run away from pain, we try to escape pain. The moment the first pain comes we reach for the aspirin bottle. Television, of course, has helped school us to do this. We've all seen the TV commercials with the two stomachs. In one of them, the Bufferin has already begun its journey to the brain and, in the other, the poor plain aspirin tablet isn't even half-dissolved. We're easy marks for that kind of commercial graphic because we've been conditioned to go for the fast one, the instant remedy for pain.

"Avoid the pain!" Sometimes that is good counsel, obviously. A class of ten-year-olds had been asked to write a little essay on "Care of the Teeth." One student wrote,

"1) See your dentist often, 2) Brush your teeth after every meal, 3) Watch out for shovels at the drinking fountain."

That's good advice: watch for those shoves which are going to inflict pain. But the trouble is, some of us spend so much time watching out for shoves that we are never able to drink deeply of the water of life.

I am not suggesting that we go out and look for pain. That is a form of sickness in itself. What I am suggesting is that in a full, rich, human life, some pain is absolutely unavoidable -- sometimes because of circumstances beyond our control and sometimes not. As it was with Jesus, often when we stand up for what is right and for what we believe in, we might well expect to suffer for it.

Jesus could have avoided the pain in Jerusalem. He was tempted to do that even until the last night of His life in Gethemane. Jesus struggled with the problem of pain. But because there was a higher truth, a higher value, a higher reality involved -- the Rule of God, the Kingdom of God -- He did not avoid the pain. It was unavoidable if He were to be true to what He was called to be and to do.

In today's Gospel, after Peter's confession of faith, Jesus orders His disciples not to tell anyone He is the Messiah, But why? The answer is that the people of His own time -- even His closest friends -- refused to accept Him as He really was. They had their own fixed notions about this. The Messiah was to be a warrior-king, a political leader who would restore national independence. He would lead them to glorious victory and reign over them as a triumphant king. They were unable as yet to grasp

the notion that Jesus was not that kind of Messiah at all; that He was the "Suffering Servant" whose ministry would lead Him into the pain of Gethsemane and Calvary and ignominious death on the Cross. Jesus had to endure the pain and the death so that through Him, God might reveal to the fullest His infinite love for us. And so Jesus moved into His pain; He went to Jerusalem.

This is the image the Gospel holds up to us as we reflect on the meaning not only of our own pain, but also the pain of others. We lean into our own pain to discover meaning. And our Christian ministry of service sensitizes us to the pain and suffering of others -- our wives and husbands, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, our friends and neighbors, and strangers along the way.

Like most large newspapers, the Washington Post has a room filled with file folders which contain reference information on people from every walk of life. In each file, the famous person is identified by a notation about occupation or vocation, such as, "motion picture star" or "oil tycoon" or "social reformer." A visitor to the Washington Post offices reports looking up the file on Jesus Christ. In the folder, someone has identified Jesus with a single word: "martyr." That's not a bad answer to the question of who Jesus is, but neither is it the complete answer.

"Who do you say that I am?" Jesus asked, and Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter answered very well that day, but he can't answer for you or for me today. Even within the community of the Church, there remains the necessity of a personal confession of faith. Each of us must make up our own mind about this Jesus.

assumption of the blessed Virgin

HAPPINESS IS DOING GOD'S WILL

The Good News about God is that He loves you and wants you to experience the good life. But He has given you freedom -- freedom to say "Yes!" or "No!" You can obey or you can disobey. You can follow Jesus or you can go your own way. "He who obeys the commandments he has received from Me is the man who loves Me," Jesus said. The consequences, or the fruit, of freely choosing to say "Yes!" to God is love. Obeying God is learning how to love.

Don't talk about it. Forget your own good intentions. Stop picking and choosing and making excuses to yourself and others. Empty yourself of all that "self-help" knowledge you've acquired about "Looking Out For Number One." Get on with it! Do it! "Do God's Will as I have revealed it to you," Jesus is telling us, over-and-over again. But He doesn't leave it there. He doesn't leave it hanging. He lets us in on the secret of the joy -- the true happiness -- of holy obedience. He tells us that if we enter through the narrow gate -- the disciplined way of obedience -- we will find wholeness of life. We will become the tree that bears rich fruit. Our life's house will be built on a solid foundation that will withstand any storm.

Obedience to God's Will opens up the whole secret of life for you. Jesus is telling you that obedience to the Will of God -- actually doing what the Lord teaches you to do -- is the only way to achieve genuine joy, happiness, fulfillment, peace of soul, wholeness of life. We say these things -- week-after-week we say them -- but do we really believe them enough, trust them enough, have enough faith in them to act accordingly? Or do we keep on frantically pushing and shoving, and manipulating, and trying to have our own way -- fighting God right to the bitter end?

In a magazine cartoon, a mother and father are arguing over junior's budding musical career. "Very well," the exasperated father exclaims, "have it your way. So he'll grow up to be a tuba virtuoso. But can't he just take lessons? Does he have to practice?"

Absurd as it may seem, that is exactly what we're saying about our own lives if we're travelling down the middle of the road paved with good intentions. We talk about living a virtuoso Christian life but we don't want to practice it. We're trying to meet with Christ on our own terms. But it can't be done. We cannot simply talk our way into His company.

"He who obeys the commandments he has received from Me is the man who loves Me." The person who loves Jesus is the person who relates to others in the spirit of compassion, the spirit of concerned, caring, loving service. Do it now -- in your very next encounter with a human being. It's true: practice does make perfect.

In today's Gospel Lesson, in the person of Mary -- a "mother-To-Be" -- Luke presents to us the perfect example of trust in God's Holy Will. When informed by God's messenger that she would give birth to the Messiah, Mary immediately gave her faith response. "I am the handmaid of the Lord," she said, "let what you have said be done to me" (Lk. 1:38). And then, Luke tells us, "Mary set out...and went as quickly as she could to visit her cousin, Elizabeth (who also was pregnant), and to tell her the good news. Elizabeth joyfully greeted her, saying, "Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb...The moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled" (Lk. 1:42,44-45).And there we have the secret of "blessedness," the secret of "happiness," the secret of a fruitful Christian living a fruitful life: to let it be done to you as God wills; to do as God wills; to love one another as He has loved us.

What is happiness? The Apostle Paul has given us the formula:

Because you are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt mercy, with kindness, and humility and meekness and patience. Bear with one another, forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you. Over all these virtues, put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect. Christ's peace must reign in your hearts (Col. 3:12-15).

I send you love, I send you light; I bless your soul with all my might.

I give you all that I can give, And pray that it will help you live A life that's full, a life that's free, At one with peace and harmony.

And in return I ask one thing: That you accept the gift I bring. And worry not about what you In return for me can do.

For my reward is in the thrill That comes from having served God's Will.