“Open My Heart” by Beth DeCristofaro
(Moses) and Aaron assembled the community in
front of the rock, where he said to them, "Listen to me, you rebels! Then,
raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff, and water gushed
out in abundance for the people and their livestock to drink. But the LORD said
to Moses and Aaron, "Because you were not faithful to me in showing forth
my sanctity before the children of Israel, you shall not lead this community
into the land I will give them. (Numbers 20:10-12)
From that time on, Jesus began to show his
disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands
of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third
day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God
forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to
Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are
setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ (Matthew 16:21-23)
Piety
Today, Lord, may I hear your voice, and may my
heart be open to profess you and act upon your word.
(from
Psalm 95)
Study
The Gospel readings have been full of signs
and wonders this week. God’s profuse, multiplying grace fed hungry crowds. A
non-believer’s faith-filled plea is answered. Jesus’ divinity is dazzlingly
revealed. Jesus’ followers, Peter, in particular, witnessed all these wonders. In
today’s Gospel Jesus hands Peter leadership and influence which must have
boggled the fisherman’s brain. Perhaps he should have listened more carefully
to the story of the rich land-owner who sought to take life easy resting on his
riches. But the hand of God called him away from “human things”. Some leaders
of today’s church and we people of the Body of Christ seem hard-pressed to see
beyond human things. Yet Jesus’ Body abides.
This Gospel passage is the first time of
three that Jesus predicts his upcoming trial, murder, and resurrection. How that
have sounded like bad news among the Good News that he preached. God’s design
to bring humanity back into union with him is the root from which springs
Jesus’ acceptance of this sacrifice. Jesus’ rebuke of Peter is not for words of
(human) support but for Peter’s resistance to accepting God’s divine gift. Clearly
today we continue to have difficulty realizing the solidity – the reality – of
this gift present even today. Jesus’ message to Peter and to each Christian is
constantly and consistently to follow him in love, banking on and immersing
ourselves in the grace of the gift without which we see only with human eyes.
We all stand together with the foreign woman,
the landowner, the crowds, the disciples before Jesus who stands with us before
God. We are tasked to accept and live the divine gift. Professing that
acceptance extends respect, recognition of human dignity and welcome to others.
With his grace, there is no need to strike the rock twice because it is not us
but our hand striking on God’s behalf to build the Body of Christ.
Action
Our church today needs so desperately to lean
into God’s embrace. The abuse, the divisive language, the exclusiveness
practiced by some is what Jesus spoke against 2,000 years ago. Our Holy Savior
taught us to pray “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” which is a
template for action – to see and act immersed in God’s embrace. But let it
begin with me. How might I extend God’s embrace to someone isolated, thirsty or
hungry, fearful, ostracized? How might I extend it to those hurt by my church?
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