Of all the consistent themes and motifs that run throughout the Gospels, one of my favorites has to be “one of the disciples totally misses the point and says or does something really dumb. It gives us regular folks hope that we might turn out alright in the end. After all, if the saints unto whom Our Lord trusted the responsibility of building up His Church in the beginning were constant screw-ups, perhaps we might make it after all. At different points throughout the Gospel they try to send away the children (and are rebuked by Jesus), they try to stop others from driving out demons (and are  rebuked by Jesus), they offer to call down  lightning on their enemies (and are rebuked by Jesus), and they bicker about which of them is the best… and are rebuked by Jesus.

But today’s Gospel gives us an incident when Jesus is more demonstrative than usual in teaching His disciples that their attitudes are wrong. Peter reacts vehemently against the notion that Jesus will have to go to Jerusalem, accept terrible suffering and death, and fulfill His destiny. Jesus doesn’t simply rebuke him; he refers to him as Satan and castigates him for thinking not as God does, but as men do. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know that when my   parents told me they were disappointed with me, it crushed me for days. If the second person of the Trinity, God Incarnate, Creator of all in existence, were to call me Satan, it would be more than a little upsetting.

In the face of this correction, we have to ask ourselves why Jesus thought it was so necessary to set Peter straight on how and why He would have to offer His life. The fact of the matter is that the crucifixion is not just another article of the Faith, but rather it is the point where life and death, heaven and hell, this life and the life to come, all come together and are decided. Jesus offering His life for us on the Cross is a once in eternity event, but it is so central to our lives as Christians; in the Sacraments we have the opportunity, and even the obligation, to re-offer that sacrifice offered for each one of us. The Cross stands at the center of history, and this is why Jesus tells us that each one of us must take up our own cross and follow Him: because it is central to our own salvation, we participate in the sacrifice of Jesus offered for each one of us. As we strive to live out this calling in our own lives, may we ask God every day for the strength to carry the crosses which He offers us, and do so in a manner that brings us closer to Our Lord in His suffering.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McCullough