It is interesting to observe how some people view God. Some people seem to long for a god that would bless them with riches and good fortune, that would protect them from all harm, that would solve all their problems, that would give them happiness and peace. Perhaps this was what Peter in today’s Gospel was hoping for, when Jesus came into his life. Peter had hoped and thought that Jesus had come to liberate Israel from the Romans, and lead Israel as a nation back to their glorious past. But Jesus gives a very different picture of his role, by speaking of Himself as being “destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death.” Jesus is trying to help Peter and His disciples understand that He is God who is prepared to suffer and die for us because He loves us.
What does this mean to us? It means that, to be a disciple of Christ, we must as Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it.” Whatever we seek in this world merely brings temporary satisfaction, and we can become easily dissatisfied and search for other things that may satisfy; but nothing can truly satisfy but God’s love. It also means that as a disciple of Christ, we are one in Christ, as St. Paul in the second reading reminds us: “You are, all of you, sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. All baptised in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” This means that as one people in Christ, we need to help each other and together experience God’s love.
Some of us may wonder: how are we to deal with suffering? Is suffering a bad thing? No, Jesus taught us through His life example that suffering is not a bad thing or our enemy. In fact, Jesus is showing us through His life example that we all experience pain and suffering, but when suffering comes, we can either choose to complain and become bitter and angry; or we can choose to see how God can bring goodness out of this experience. Today, let us not fear or despair if we are experiencing suffering, since God is there to help us and guide us, transforming us into something beter, for His glory.