22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – A
“Lifelong Learning of our Faith”
“If anyone wishes to come after me, they must deny their very self
Take up their cross and begin to follow in my footsteps.”
As the world around us begins another school year, although it will look quite different than normal, I wonder how many of us still remember our first day of school. For many of us that first day was probably one that we would like to forget, one that we would not have minded if it had also been our last. Very likely it was a day of great anxiety – for both us and maybe our parents. There we were, torn from the familiarity and security of our home, wrenched from the reassuring presence of our parents and family, and thrown into a room full of stranger with one towering adult who kindly but firmly told us when to sit, when to stand, when to talk, wen to eat, and when to go to the bathroom.
If we think we had a terrible time that first day of school, let us consider the trouble that St. Peter had. For the sake of this sermon we can imagine that today’s gospel is a school scene. Jesus is the teacher. His disciples are his students.
Jesus starts his first lesson by talking about the tough, terrible, and traumatic times he is about to experience. Far worse than having to go to school, Jesus must go to Jerusalem, the capital city of his country. There he will “suffer greatly. . . , be put to death, and raise dup on the third day. And we thought we had problems!
Peter enters the scene, precocious pupil that he was, does not like this kind of tough talk. So Peter precedes to disagree with Jesus, hoping that his teacher will change the course of the topic and talk about good and happy things like power and prestige, victory and glory. Jesus is not about to change his lesson plan. So what does Jesus do? He reprimands Peter, throwing him out of the classroom. “Get out of my sight, you satan!” (which really does not mean the devil but rather an adversary or an opponent).
To make sure that his students did not forget this first lesson, Jesus proceeds to teach them and us about ABC’s of discipleship. “A” stand for “after” as in “come after me.” “B” stands for “begin” as in “begin to follow in my footsteps.” “C” stands for “cross” and “carry” as in carrying our cross daily as we follow Jesus our teacher. Jesus wants us to learn this primary lesson, names, that we are enrolled in the original “school of hard knocks.”
One of the most important and necessary works we must do as students of Jesus is to keep studying, keep growing and being transformed by the Gospel, and keep learning about our faith. The greatest obstacle to our continued growth as Christians and as Catholics is to think we know it all once we have been confirmed. Even our baptismal ritual instructs parents when it says: “you are the primary teachers of the faith.” How can we teach it if we don’t know it?
Can you even imagine your doctor who stops learning as soon as he gets his medical license? Can we imagine a farmer who is not interested in learning about new ways to produce a bigger crop? Or a business owner who is not interested in learning about how to grow his/her business? Let us also be unable to imagine a Catholic who is satisfied with the bare minimum of knowledge – something we learned 50 years ago, but that is outdated because we now have the Second Vatican Council to guide us.
Let us continue to learn about and grow in our faith as we move through our lives with the awesome history and mystery of our God, our Church, and our faith.
Jesus call us to be His disciples – that means being informed and educated about our faith. The church is our school! We are the students; are we ready, willing, and eager to get back into our classes and learn?
God bless us all, as we continue our lifelong learning of our faith.