“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
St. Matthew records the worst turnaround in the Scriptures. Last Sunday, we saw Peter’s dramatic confession of faith. He said not what flesh and blood would reveal – what human beings would say about Christ – but what the Father in Heaven reveals to him. But today, just a few verses later, Peter is no longer the rock upon which Christ will build His Church, but “Satan” and an “obstacle” to Christ.
We saw last Sunday that the Church is the Body of Christ, so the Church is both human and divine. We focused last Sunday on the divine part, how the Church stands athwart history as the world’s moral compassion, teaching definitively on faith and morals, pointing us away from the evil that will leave us not only miserable, but bored.
Today we see the more human aspect. In rejecting that Christ “must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly … and be killed,” Peter relies not upon what the Heavenly Father has revealed to him about Christ’s identity, but thinks “not as God does, but as human beings do.” Thus, Peter can become an “obstacle” to Christ. The word here translated by “obstacle” is often rendered “stumbling block.” From the rock upon which Christ will build His Church, to the rock that causes one to stumble and fall, that impedes the proclamation of the Gospel.
That same word for “obstacle” or “stumbling block” also appears in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, from which we read last Friday. “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, … Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
It is easy for us to forget what a revolutionary idea this is! Just like we saw two weeks ago what a distinctive notion the Sabbath was to a world that knew only a seven day work week or not working at all, that strength can be present in weakness, and suffering can be a cause of glory is a uniquely Christian idea. The 19th Century philosopher Nietzsche, the prototype of 20th Century atheism and godfather of all the intellectual movements trying to break down Christian culture, accused Christians of replacing pagan nobility of strength with an inversion of values in which weakness became better than being strong. While Nietzsche was wrong about this being a bad thing, he noticed something that most of us forget to consider: the Gospel turns the natural order of power and weakness upside down!
The Cross of Christ is a place of power. But we can also become a “stumbling block” when we get in the way of people coming to the Lord’s Cross. This happens when we reject suffering or try to hide the reality of suffering. While we do it for ourselves, we do it even more for the ones we love. How many times have something like Peter’s words been found on your lips: “God forbid … No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
There’s no one we more want to shield from suffering than children. And rightly so, because the God-given instinct of every parent and caring adult is that children shouldn’t suffer. But what happens when children are too shielded from suffering and failure? It’s easy to blame the increase in depression and anxiety on screen time. And that surely plays a role. But not being guided to a sense of the greater purpose of suffering and failure – to the power of the Lord’s Cross present whenever we fall – this has to be a strong contributing factor as well.
To think as human beings do, the worst possible outcomes for our children would be “failing to launch,” not getting a good job, not getting into a great college, not being able to afford a house, not being in a deeply fulfilling profession. But this isn’t remotely the real worst possible outcome. The worst possible outcome is the loss of eternal salvation, the loss of the power of Christ crucified, “[conformed] … to this age [and no longer] transformed by the renewal of [their] mind.” “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit [eternal] life?”
St. Paul encourage us today: “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.” Of course, we want to and should protect our children from all harm, but teaching them to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice through suffering and self-denial is just as important. Do not deprive them of the source of the greatest power – the Cross of Christ!
The history of the Church is full of the witness of saints who became incredibly holy at young ages, not needing a long life to embrace the power of Christ crucified and be completely transformed in a short time. St. Aloysius Gonzaga, the son of a wealthy noble family, made a vow of chastity at nine years old, and at 17 renounced his noble title and inheritance to enter the Jesuits. Six years later, at 23, despite being in poor health for his whole life, he dedicated himself to serving plague victims, eventually losing his life in heroic service to the sick and suffering. Certainly, folly in the eyes of the world, but “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.”
In the last century, St. José Luís Sánchez del Rio, a fifteen-year-old boy with more manly power than many grown men would summon, stirred the hearts of the whole world as he held out his arms in the shape of Christ’s Cross before the firing squads of the Mexican communists and yelled, “Viva Cristo Rey!” inspiring not only his fellow countrymen, but the thousands of priests and religious who would similarly give their lives before the violent persecutions of the communists in Spain.
In 1990, a nineteen-year-old young women, Bl. Chiara Badano, heroically embraced the Cross through an excruciatingly painful bone cancer that culminated in her saintly death, but not before she inspired thousands with the serenity and joy with which she embraced intense pain, radiating peace and happiness to those who visited her. Several young women from our parish, inspired by her example, have chosen her as their confirmation saint.
As Benedict XVI put it: “Christ did not promise an easy life. Those who desire comforts have come to the wrong place. Rather, he shows us the way to great things, the good, towards an authentic human life. The ways of the Lord are not easy, but [you] were not created for an easy life, but for great things, for goodness.” The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort – you were made for greatness!
The reason you can trust that the Cross of Christ is a place of power for yourself, your children, or anyone you care about who suffers, is that the Cross isn’t the end of the story! St. Peter missed the most important part: “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must … suffer greatly … and be killed and on the third day be raised.” This isn’t a “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” mentality. It isn’t “no pain, no gain.”
Rather, suffering is the invitation to touch the place of the nails, to put your hand into His side, and to believe that this life is not the end, that the goods of this world are but faint shadows of the happiness to come, and that you were made for something so much greater than comfort, because the One who took up the Cross has made it the power and the wisdom of God.
The Rev. Royce V. Gregerson
Parish Church of Our Lady of Good Hope, Fort Wayne
XXII Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXVI
Father Gregerson 