“A Life Well Lived”: 30 August, 2020
Matthew 16:21-28
Jesus continues to prepare the disciples for what awaits him in Jerusalem. Peter’s incredulity at what Jesus foretells stands in for the reaction of all who had eagerly anticipated the Messiah: torture and death for Israel’s savior simply were not part of the plan. Jesus’ rebuke of Peter . . . recalls Jesus’ experience in the wilderness where he dispatched the devil—a similarity that is certainly intentional on Matthew’s part.
Verses 24 and following reveal what kind of Messiah Jesus is and what kind of followers he calls. Instead of taking up a scepter or a sword, Jesus takes up a cross and asks the same of those who would be his disciples. . . Self-denial here is not the erasing of one’s inherent worth; it is, rather, the abandonment of all self-assertion driven by fear and the desire for power. It is, in other words, the complete refusal of violence.
The familiarity of verses 24–26 has often led to a tepid and confused theology of the cross; one which assumes that my private anxiety—a difficult relationship, financial hardship, uncertain health—is my personal cross to bear. While certain forms of emotional or physical suffering may be redemptive, the cross Jesus speaks of in Matthew 16 and elsewhere does not represent the sum total of our personal worries and aggravations. It is, instead, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer claimed, the suffering that comes from our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone. The cross, Bonhoeffer insisted, is not random suffering, but necessary suffering; it is rejection for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Verse 27. . . is in keeping with Matthew’s general insistence that judgment will be meted out according to deeds, action, performance, and not according to what we say, think, or feel. Verse 28 seems to indicate Matthew’s belief that the Son of Man’s coming was imminent. This verse and others continue to preoccupy some Bible readers, causing them to create timetables and offer predictions of Jesus’ return. They would do well to pay closer attention to Jesus’ teaching about the way of the cross and the cost of discipleship. –– Debra Dean Murphy
Jeremiah 15:15-21
The prophet Jeremiah was not one of the “in crowd” of prophets in Jerusalem. He was a priest in a town two miles outside of Jerusalem. Although he was close enough to the city to know what was going on, he stood outside of the power structures. He was in a position, therefore, to be a critic, and he railed against the wickedness of the people. He saw the Babylonian threat as a judgment of God on Judah and Jerusalem. The book of Jeremiah is a collection of his oracles in no chronological order.
In this passage we see Jeremiah’s great passion: “your words were found, and I ate them…” He is consumed with what he has ingested. He is filled with indignation, incurable wounds, unceasing pain. His vision gives him great discomfort, and he struggles with God’s lack of help. Jeremiah is every one of us who has known despair.
And yet, he also hears the word of the Lord promise him utter support: “I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze…” What could be stronger?! Before his enemies, the Lord will give him the courage to continue to speak and anger his listeners. This is a prophetic cross to bear. –– Melinda Quivik
Romans 12:9-21
Paul continues to set forth specific patterns and practices and a vision of life in the body of Christ grounded in “genuine love.” As always, for Paul, love is concrete action, not a feeling or emotion; love does things, behaves in certain ways. (Neither Paul nor any other biblical writer ever tells us that we must feel like rejoicing, feel like loving or blessing or caring for others; we are simply called to rejoice, love, bless, and care for). The commands in these verses are not a checklist of orders to be carried out (or else), but something like the contours of a life well-lived in Christian community—a common life made possible not by our own goodness, but by the exquisite self-giving of the cross. –– Debra Dean Murphy
Debra Dean Murphy is associate professor of Religious Studies at West Virginia Wesleyan College.
Melinda Quivik, an ordained ELCA pastor who served churches in Montana, Michigan, and Minnesota, and taught worship and preaching in an ELCA seminary, now edits The Liturgical Conference journal, Liturgy, writes commentaries, and teaches occasional courses.
Homily Service 41, no. 3 (2008): 178-189