Word to the Wise
Sunday, September 16, 2018 - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Isa 50:4-9a; Jas 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35]SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2018. TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME [Isaiah 50:5-9a; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35] The shock and confusion of Jesus’ death and resurrection led the early Christian community to look for ways to understand WHY all this HAD to take place. The Gospel According to Mark shows that when Jesus began to warn his disciples that his end was near, there was disbelief because such an end was not possible in their scheme of a savior. Peter was right about WHO Jesus was, but wrong in rejecting any suffering on the part of “the Christ.” And to make things even more difficult, Jesus warns the disciples that they, too, would suffer the same fate. Those disciples could include us as well: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Remembering the story of Jesus, which is the point of the gospels, also meant looking to the scriptures that were available at the time the gospels were composed. The first scripture for today is an example. It is taken from a part of the prophecy of Isaiah known as the Song of the Suffering Servant. In the vivid imagery the community found a foretelling description of Jesus’ passion. What emerges from this is a bigger picture than the disciples had initially in the middle of all the shock and confusion that followed the death and resurrection of Jesus. The whole New Testament is an effort to understand the story of Jesus, but it is also a challenge to us to continue to tell the story and understand that in doing so, we must live it as well. AMEN
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