My Rock

My Rock

September 28, 2012

Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for everything under the heavens. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Blessed be the Lord, my rock! (Psalms 144:1)

Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" They said in reply, "John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, 'One of the ancient prophets has arisen.'" Then he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said in reply, "The Christ of God." He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. (Luke 9:18-22)

Piety

Lord, I’ll never understand your timing, and I suppose I don’t have to. Help me to be patient and confident in You, my Rock.

Study

So why didn’t Jesus want Peter to shout from the rooftops that he was the Messiah, come to deliver the people?

Because it wasn’t time.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus goes on to tell the disciples what’s coming: I’ll suffer. I’ll be rejected. I’ll be killed. And then, I’ll be raised.

You can almost see the puzzled looks on their faces, can’t you? And Jesus knew that if they, the people who were with him day in, day out, didn’t get it, the crowds surely wouldn’t.

It just wasn’t time.

As we are so beautifully told in Ecclesiastes, there is a season for everything. We’re not the One who decides when the season starts or ends. We’re not the One who decides if it’s a bountiful season, or one where the crop gets burned or hailed out. We’re not the deciders, anymore than the disciples were.

And so we wait. And we trust. And we pray. We turn over control and worry and fear. We know He’s coming back. We don’t know when. All we can do is to do as He asked: Love God, and love our neighbor as ourselves. It’s always time to obey the two greatest commandments.

Action

Just for today, pray without a timeline for your intentions. Let God do that part.