Scripture Study for

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Understanding the Word

By Br. John R. Barker, OFM

Jeremiah has struggled not only with the mission to proclaim God’s word, but also with the way God had gone about practically  coercing him into the task from the beginning (1:5). Jeremiah’s  attitude comes out most clearly in this famous passage in which he  accuses God of “duping” (or “seducing”) him. The prophet feels God  has put something over on him, and he has allowed it to happen. The  result has been nothing but pain. Yet Jeremiah is unable to simply  walk away. God has gotten into Jeremiah’s bones and the call to  proclaim God’s word is unrelenting. This is what Jeremiah was born  for and there is no walking away from it. 

Having concluded that no matter how mysterious are God’s ways, they are for the good of everyone, Paul turns to the response his audience should have to this divine mercy, which is to offer  themselves to God. This requires them to reject the tendency of the  “old self” (or the “flesh”) to conform to the values and expectations  of the world. Having died to sin in Christ, and with the Spirit dwelling  within them, they must be re-formed and have their minds, wills,  perspectives renewed. Being conformed to Christ means becoming  like him, who was devoted to nothing but the will of God, and thus sought always to do what God—not “the age”—considered good,  pleasing, and perfect. 

Immediately after being proclaimed the rock upon which Jesus  will build his church, Peter reveals the limits of his understanding of  the Christ. When Jesus announces that he will suffer and be killed,  Peter responds according to quite human ways of thinking: The  Messiah and Son of God could not possibly suffer and die. Jesus  immediately recognizes this reasoning as a satanic temptation to  abandon the course and insists that the kingdom of heaven is costly.  This is not a new teaching—Jesus has been proclaiming it along.  What is new is the realization that the Son of God himself will pay  the highest price. As he has previously assured them, the price will be worth it. They will gain the very thing they think they are losing,  and more.

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