Second Sunday in Lent – Year B
February 25, 2024
Gospel Lectionary Text
Mark 8:31-38
8:31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
8:32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
8:33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
8:34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
8:35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
8:36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
8:37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
8:38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Context
In the second week of Lent, Jesus names what is becoming obvious — the conditions are set for him to become a scapegoat. He then invites the disciples to pick up their cross and follow him. Peter is understandably scandalized. He’d hoped for a revolution against Roman oppression. He sees Jesus as a sellout — a source of shame for the movement, and perhaps, Peter himself.
Recognizing the seeds of violence, Jesus responds decisively. He casts out the spirit of rivalry between them (which is Satan), and the shame in Peter that fuels the rivalry.
Yes, Jesus occupies the shame of humanity and transforms it creatively, nonviolently. Imagine the thing that most haunts you becoming the very source of your power, something more precious than gold. This is what happens with Peter, who eventually sees the creative genius of Jesus and picks up his cross and follows him.
Question
Are there ways that your shame and disappointment have put you in rivalry with Jesus’ creative work, and how is the Spirit inviting you to put that behind you?
Reflections
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
The Uses of Sorrow
by Mary Oliver
(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)
Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.
Prayer
Coming soon.
