Living Sacrifice ::: Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Year A

Jeremiah 20:7-9

Psalm 63:2.3-4.5-6.8-9 (R. Cf. 2ab)

Romans 12:1-2

Matthew 16:21-27

Living Sacrifice 

Last week we looked at the Faith of Peter, who when Jesus asked his disciples who do they think he is, Peter answered that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Just as we looked at who the Messiah is Last week, today we look at something more interesting and contrary to popular belief, which is about what the Messiah is to do.

Jesus Christ in the Gospel today informs his disciples about his passion. He informs them that; he as the Messiah is the Lamb of God (cf.Jonh 1:29), and as from  the fourth song of the servant in Isaiah 53:11, he will justify many by taking their guilt on himself. This image of the  Messiah was not the Criteria the Israelites wanted. 

 With the Idea that he will be the Son of David; the Criteria was that the Messiah like David will gather the Jewish people from exile and return them to Israel (Isaiah 11:12). He will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem   (Ezekiel 37:26 - 27). He will usher in peace (Micah 4:3), and so on. All the criteria are best stated in Ezekiel 37: 24-28. 

You imagine the best footballer of your team, specifically the Striker with severe injuries and siting in a wheelchair and the Coach has added him to the team for an ongoing final match for the Cup, and he will be striking for the team and he will not be substituted. In fact the team will lose the match completely unless a Miracle occurs. 

So there is no expectation of a suffering Messiah.  So when Jesus told his disciples about his Passion, it was to them like a New teaching but also demoralising. So Peter like most of us prefer not this Messiah and began to rebuke Jesus Christ. Christianity today is ashamed of the Cross, most Christians wants to be Christians if it only means getting wealth and becoming happy.  There are a lot of prosperity gospels been preached around. What they forget is that, looking at when the devil tempted Jesus in the desert in Matthew and Luke chapters 4, the devil was possessing all wealth, power and status and chooses to give to anyone who he pleases but the devil was not happy, he wanted Jesus to fail his mission of using sacrifice to worship God. 

The point is, there is no Christianity without the Cross and Paul makes it very clear; 

1 Corinthians 1:23

But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles. 

 The sacrifice of Thanksgiving is what the Cross represents, but it is a powerful Prayer to the extent that when Moses imitated the posture of the Cross, Joshua was able to defeat the Amalekites (cf. Exodus 17:11). In fact the imagery of the third temple that Ezekiel saw in a vision with the living water  flowing from it is in the form of the Cross. Just look closely at the picture below. 

So when Peter started rebuking Jesus Christ, Jesus said to him, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men." What? There are two sides; that of God and that of men, and the one who chooses the Cross is on God's side and the one who chooses men's side is Satan. Very interesting, the one who hates the Cross, hates God and consequently all the Sacraments that flows from it. Obviously this is Satan. 

In the first Reading, all the sufferings has led Jeremiah to confess that God has seduced him. He realizes that to follow God is not only about easy and successful life, but as Jesus told his disciples, its about denial of self, taking up your Cross and following him. In short its about sacrifice. The statement that Jeremiah state about a burning fire in his heart shut up in his bones summarizes everything he is saying.  

This fire he is talking about draws our attention to the perpetual fire for sacrifice in Leviticus 6: 5-6.

"The fire on the altar that consumes the burnt offering must not be allowed to go out..."

Thus with this perpetual fire, God is always ready to receive our Sacrifices.  So in the Second Reading Paul entreat us to offer our Bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, and this is our spiritual worship.  The Greek Word 'paristemi' which was used for present is the same used for when presenting animals as sacrifices.  Interestingly in animal sacrifice the animals die, so why a living sacrifice? I think the self denial, taking up one's Cross and following Jesus answers this.  Thus we must set apart our bodies completley for God just as sacrifices are deemed sacred or holy and hence set apart for God's worship.

Interestingly also, the Greek Word that was translated as spiritual is logikos, which means reasonable or rational. Thus the act of setting apart our Bodies for God whose fire is perpetually burning to accept our sacrifice is a rational thing to do. This is summed up in the statement "do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the Renewal of your mind..." We are called to do a rational thing, to worship God with our life.

By 

Sylvester Amakye-Quayson