24TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B

Isaiah 50:5-9
Psalm 114
James 2:14-18
Mark 8:27-35

               SUFFERING TO GLORY

Today's readings give us many tracts for meditation. For St James in the second reading, a faith without deeds is dead. The first reading is one of the four songs of the prophet Isaiah that describe the astonishing figure of the suffering servant. What characterizes this suffering servant in today's passage is his trusting faith in God who can save him  in the midst of suffering, opposition and rejection (Is. 50:5-9).

Jesus fulfilled this prophecy through his passion, death and resurrection, as he himself announced in today's gospel. When Simon Peter professed that Jesus is the Messiah, (that is, the Anointed One), he was probably thinking of a political leader who would free the Jews from Roman domination, and not of a suffering Saviour. Hence he began to rebuke Jesus when he predicted his suffering and death.

Peter's misconception about Jesus is still present in our own days. Many of us dream of following Jesus, but lose sight of the way of the cross. Some preach a prosperity gospel, that is a gospel without suffering and pain. However, we must know that a life without suffering is an illusion. And being a Christian without accepting the cross is to follow a caricature of Jesus.

What makes the difference is our patience and endurance amidst pain and suffering, opposition and apparent failures, crosses and trials.
May the Lord help us bear patiently our daily crosses and follow him. Amen.