Homily for the 24th Sunday, Cycle B
Can you imagine someone running for political office saying the same things Jesus said in the gospel (Mk 8:27-35)? “Fellow Citizens. Let me introduce my two-point plan to benefit all: (1) Deny yourself. (2) Take up your cross. Follow me!”
He or she is not going to get many votes. Yet that is the two-point plan Jesus said to his disciples. “”Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
Peter objected. Acting as Jesus’ campaign manager, he advises that Jesus avoid all this talk about suffering and rejection. Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan.” In our broken world, suffering is inevitable. But when a person accepts suffering, it’s as if God has received an invitation to come in and help.
What would the world be like if all people followed the two-point plan of Jesus: denying themselves while being attentive to the needs of the other, and when the suffering comes, rather than running away, draw upon God’s grace to take up their cross?
After Peter’s rebuke, Jesus offers a way to know when to deny oneself and to take up the cross. He said, “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” In other words, think with the mind of God.
There is an example I’d like to share to illustrate how this might work. It’s a sad tale I heard from a woman about son. She permitted me to share parts of the conversation. Her experiences illustrate some of the differences between thinking with the mind of God and the mind of man.
She has a son who is around forty years old. The son has been addicted to drugs most of his life. He would do whatever he needed to support his habit, even lying and stealing from his family. Because of his lifestyle, his health deteriorated. Two years ago, he had a stroke which affected his speech and his ability to walk. The mother felt the need to make daily visits to care for him in his apartment. Her visits weren’t pleasant. Each time he saw her, he would whine about his situation and beg for more pain pills, cigarettes, and Red Bull.
The mother did all of this out of a sense of duty and obligation. One might say she denied herself and took up her cross; her cross being caring for a disabled, drug-addicted son. She also approached this dilemma with the mind of God. Regardless of this man’s past, he had needs – today. She had decided to look beyond the past betrayals and meet his needs as best she could.
One night, he was smoking in bed in his apartment and burned much of the interior. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Unfortunately, he now had no clothing, no furniture, no money, and no place to live.
She knew he would have to stay in her home for a short while. She also knew her husband and daughter were not crazy about him moving into her house. The son was from a previous marriage, and they had no relationship with him except those related to his later-day drug use. Thinking of trying to please everyone (but in reality, pleasing no one) his mother said he could temporarily live in her small house. To stress that this was temporary, he was to sleep on the couch in the main room, not in the spare bedroom. No way did they want him to think he was at home. In this, she was thinking the human mind and dodging the cross of having him fully move in. She thought she could find a new place for him to live in a week or two, but months passed.
All the while, she essentially had a grown man, with many physical and emotional needs, living in the central room of the house. The nerves of everyone in the house were frazzled. Her husband couldn’t deal with it and often escaped to his workshop or on his boat fishing. Her daughter went to live with friends. Her family had reached a breaking point.
Her son started mumbling that he just wanted to die. Too much pain in his body. Too much hostility from the people around him. Too many regrets from his past.
After she shared this woeful tale, I asked, “What would have been the harm if initially you put him in the bedroom?” Everyone would have had their private space. Life at home would have been crowded but somewhat normal. As a positive byproduct, this gesture of hospitality might spill over into the attitude of the others in the house. Her husband and her daughter were essentially amplifying her negative feelings toward this situation. They would see her acceptance of this heavy cross, maybe learn from it, and follow suit.
Lastly, she asked me: “What do I say to him when he says he wants to die?” I said to tell him this: “I need you. God is using you to teach me some valuable lessons about how I can be a better Christian and better mother. There are still some things I have to learn.”
I hope you can see through the example of this woman’s life how things can dramatically change by simply thinking with the mind of God and not with the human mind. The pain and circumstances of the suffering don’t change. But by denying ourselves and taking up our cross, we make a place for God’s grace to bring about peace, reconciliation, and redemption.
We have all had our crosses. Like this person, it may be the challenges that come from caring for a family member. It may be staying stuck in a job you don’t like for the good of the family. It may be putting up with someone’s bad habits, or having a teacher that’s unfair. Some we choose to carry, and God gives us the grace we need. Some we avoid.
Jesus has given us a marvelous two-point plan to guide us to the day of redemption: (1) deny yourself, and (2) take up your cross. To follow this plan, it’s best to see things with the mind of God.