For Sunday
Proper 20B
Collect
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Reading
Reflection
Jesus predicts his death for a second time. And the difference in the disciples is notable.
Last week we read about the first Passion prediction, after Jesus asked the disciples who they say to other people that the Son of Man is: The Messiah, Peter responds. The Messiah, the liberator and leader, come to save the Hebrew people from oppression.
So when Jesus says that he, their savior, will die in Jerusalem, Peter tries to stop this from happening. He speaks up—and is rebuked for it.
Little wonder that the disciples stay silent this time! But then we read that it isn’t only fear of saying the wrong thing or not wanting to get rebuked like Peter. They are silent because they’ve been arguing between each other about which of them is the best disciple to Jesus. They are embarrassed!
I am confident that we are supposed to see these responses as mistakes. The disciples aren’t complete screwups. But they aren’t gods among men, either. They are having a hard time understanding what Jesus is up to—and they can’t fully buy into the idea that Jesus is saving them through love and humility rather than violence and swagger. It doesn’t match their vision of leadership, so it feels wrong in that sense.
Isn’t this our struggle? That we, too, define leadership by performative strength much more than compassionate love? That we value fear-filled bravado rather than joy, hope, and humility? Don’t we insist to one another that we must do something while treating love, prayer, and dignity as nothing?
Jesus offers us a different view of our world. What would it take for us to believe him? To follow in his way? To actually believe in a Messiah who leads with love?