Suffering for Christ

Gospel

Lk 9:18-24

Once when Jesus was praying in solitude,

and the disciples were with him,

he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

They said in reply, “John the Baptist;

others, Elijah;

still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”

Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”

He rebuked them

and directed them not to tell this to anyone.

He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly

and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

Then he said to all,

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself

and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Sermon

My sisters and brothers in Christ,

The readings this Sunday are strong because they speak about the necessity of suffering in life and about the suffering of the Savior. None of us humans, not even Christ Himself, really likes suffering. We much prefer a life that is full of meaning, perhaps has some small challenges or even large ones, but which does not involve really strong sufferings.

The Gospel from Saint Luke today tells us about Jesus conversation with his followers while they are alone and apart, praying. The words of Jesus tell of his sufferings that will come. Just as we do not want our friends and loved ones to suffer, neither do the followers of Jesus want Him to suffer. The challenge is really about how we accompany one another in suffering. The apostles had to learn with some very hard lessons that their task was to embrace the sufferings necessary to proclaim the good news.

Today on this Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we are invited to look at our own lives and choose to suffer when that is necessary for the sake of following the Lord Jesus. We must become accustomed to suffering without necessarily seeking suffering.

We must come to have the wisdom and knowledge that through the suffering of Christ the world has been redeemed. We are invited to be part of the redemption and we too will suffer. Let us walk forward in faith. (Monastery of Christ in the Desert - Abbot's sermon)