Who do you say I am? - August 27th 2017

Peter gets it right in today’s Gospel and Jesus calls him ‘blessed’. That is, he is a person who brings a great gift and who brings that gift to others. Already in the community that Matthew is writing for, the community of Jesus’ followers are gathering as ‘church’. Peter is seen as Jesus’ successor and future leader for that community.

Jesus is a very different Messiah to the one the Jews expected. It is understandable that he would order the disciples to keep quiet. The people of his time wanted a leader who would lead them in a military revolt against the Romans, who would be a great king. Jesus’ mission involves a very different focus, reaching out to the outcast, those on the margins, a radical love. His actions will speak for who he is. It is for each of us to make up our own minds as to who Jesus is. Peter is quite clear and sincere in his declaration, however, as we will see later, Peter did not understand fully what the journey of Jesus would entail. Peter commits himself but it is a reminder that we must always leave room for growth in the understanding of our commitments.

‘The joy of Jesus bursts out … and he speaks his dream of an impregnable community of faith held together by the power of God rather than by external organisation, a community of commitment and freedom.’
W. YEOMANS

Unexpected Encounters - August 20th 2017

We might wonder why Jesus is so rude and dismissive to the woman in today’s Gospel who comes and asks for his help. Does he really call the woman ‘a dog’?! Many explanations have been given for Jesus’ words with some suggesting that it was an attempt at a first century joke, that he was just ‘teasing’ (he didn’t really mean it!) or that it was an opportunity to test the woman’s faith. The disciples also clearly want her sent away.

What happens just before this incident is important. Jesus has just left Gennesaret where the Pharisees have continued to be extremely hostile towards him. Jesus’ mission to ‘the lost sheep of the House of Israel’ is not going so well. So, Jesus ‘leaves that place’ and goes somewhere that is unfamiliar. What happens in this unfamiliar place is certainly life giving for the woman and for Jesus also. It might be considered a place of new beginnings as Jesus’ mission is opened up to those who would have been considered ‘unworthy’, such as a woman who is also a foreigner. The food rejected by the religious leaders of the time is ending up in unexpected places. It is here that the kingdom grows.

You have to admire the woman’s persistence. She is a reminder of people we encounter who have great faith and make a deep impression on us. We might ask ourselves today: when have experiences of rejection in our own lives led to new possibilities? Where are the unfamiliar places that we must go in order to grow, to embrace new life and new experiences?

Back to the Mountain Top - August 13th 2017

Jesus once again goes to the mountain top to pray. We too are encouraged to carve out space and time out in our everyday lives for quiet, for reflection for prayer or meditation; for whatever it is that we do to nourish that deeper spiritual heart of ourselves. It is so important.

The famous story of Jesus walking on the water follows in the Gospel today.
What a shock the disciples must have received! Initially Peter is so brave and enthusiastic. Peter is able to walk on the water until he notices the wind, then fear takes over and he begins to sink.
If you have read the book The Shack (and if you haven’t I highly recommend it!) you might remember a scene where the main character, Mack, is led onto the water by Jesus and they walk together on the lake. Mack, like Peter in today’s Gospel, is full of fear, mostly about what might happen in the future. Jesus is clear to Mack that he lives in the present and that we waste time trying to play God and control what might happen in the future: ‘You neither believe I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it, you talk about it, but you don’t know it’ (The Shack, p. 151)

Jesus’ message for Mack in the story; for Peter in the Gospel and for all of today is ‘Why did you doubt?’ What eliminates our awareness of the love of God? We are urged to keep our eyes fixed on him. It is in the present that Jesus lives, not in our fears about the future or worries about the past.

The Mountain Top - Sunday August 6th 2017

In the Scriptures, the mountains are often places where people encounter God. Jesus takes the disciples up to the mountain top to pray, to a quiet place, away from all the attention and the crowds. They have the most wonderful experience as we read in the Gospel today.

Can you recall a place where you have felt deep peace or a sense of experiencing God? In nature or in the places you go for some ‘time-out’ for yourself? Perhaps it is in special moments with family and friends; times of joy or sorrow. These ‘mountain-top’ experiences nourish us, can bring us insights or help us to deal with difficult periods in our lives. They can bring feelings of euphoria, deep joy and blessing and often sustain us in life. No wonder the disciples wanted to build ‘three dwellings’ so that Moses, Elijah and Jesus would stay with them like this forever. However, we cannot remain in those experiences forever. Jesus’ way involves both time for encounters with mystery but also coming down from the mountain and continuing on life’s journey and mission.
Can we carve out these moments of quiet in our busy days to be with the Word, to create the space to listen and make room for these encounters with the Lord? This week, imagine yourself in this story as you read ‘Jesus took me with him and went up on the mountain to pray …’

‘To pray the scriptures is to descend to the level of the heart and find God’
– MICHAEL CASEY OCSO