Isaiah 50:4-9; Ps 116 I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living, James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35
True Story
Charles Blondin was tight rope artist. He began practicing when he 9. In 1859, he become the first person to tightrope across Niagara falls. A crowd of 100,000 gathered to see him go back and forth sometimes even blindfolded over Niagara falls on the cable stretched from one end to the other.
He would astound the folks below watching as he would carry a chair across. He even cooked an omelette and ate it half way across. Once he laid down on the wire and then proceeded to rise and continue across as if he had just awoken from a nap.
He even carried a gentlemen on his back across the gorge on the tightrope. In 1860, the prince of whales appeared for the show and Charles offered to carry him across as well, though the prince refused.
It seems the prince trusted that Charles could certainly perform the task at hand but he wasn't quite ready to put his money where his mouth was. He wanted to be a spectator rather than a participant.
Which brings me to the readings for today.
James tells us that "faith with out works is dead." "What good is it if someone says he has faith but he does not have works? Can that faith save him?..."
More is demanded than mere words. Faith can never be as simple as profession with the mouth but demands action of the heart in real time, as they say.
Peter found this out as well. Peter in today's gospel answers the million dollar question posed by JEsus, "Who do yo say that I am?" This is a good question.
Peter stepped up to the challenge, "you are the Christ."
Peter was correct, yet he wasn't quite convinced. The moment Jesus began to teach him about the suffering and pain and being rejected, Peter, as the gospel tells us, "took JEsus aside and rebuked him."
Peter didn't like what he was hearing. He did not agree. Yet, this is exactly where the men are separated from the boys when it comes to faith.
Faith isn't only about what we agree with. Faith isn't about what we are ready to believe or even willing to hear but rather faith is about what God has revealed. Faith is responding to the invitation as God gives it not as we want it.
Peter found out that words were cheap when it came to faith. Faith, real and authentic, required an investment a willing to follow even in difficulty, even when we did not agree.
Jesus' rebuke Peter set the record straight. The one who has faith does not determine for himself the way but rather he must follow the path that opens before him.
How often like Peter do we seek to rebuke JEsus for the difficulty of the path, the narrow way? How often are we quick to speak our faith but slow to put it into action?
We too must be willing to be rebuked by Christ daily!
Peter had to learn this lesson through out his life. By no means did he get correct the first time. Through out the gospel JEsus is constantly bringing Peter out of his mind set and into the mind of God. In fact, all the way to the end of his life, Peter had to learn and re learn the reality of faith in action.
So it is with us. JEsus comes to rebuke us and thus pull us from our own thinking and truly set us free that we may truly have the mind of Christ as St. Paul exhorts us in his letters.
Faith in words is the beginning but it must continue be perfected by a life we live.
Faith is perfected in love as St. Paul tells us. If I have faith to move a mountain but do not have love then I am nothing.
Peter was learning the way of love. James invites us to learn it as well. Talk is cheap. Faith in action is what ultimately keeps us moving in the direction Christ leads.
Are we dead or alive in faith? Perhaps a little of both. Perhaps there are parts of us that need a little revitalization. The rebuke of Christ comes to shock our hearts back into right loving and thus walking in the presence of GOd in the land of the living.
No comments:
Post a Comment