Save your soul rather than your riches

Today's Gospel reading is the exact continuation of last Sunday's Gospel reading in Matt.16: 13-20. Just to refresh you a bit… it was when our Lord Jesus Christ asked his disciples who he was. After telling him whom the people thought who Jesus was, he directed this question to Peter who answered Jesus, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." It was there that Jesus told Peter and his disciples that the knowledge of Peter did not come from stories or rumors by fishwives or by other men, rather it was a gift given to him by God the Father.

Then that particular passage went on with Jesus giving Simon a new name - Peter, which means "Rock" and from this foundation, Jesus would build his church and the sins he would forgive would be forgiven and those that are retained would be retained, and most importantly, that the gates of hell would never prevail against her. Again, let me say it very clearly… that our Lord Jesus built only one church because he said this in the singular sense, not in the plural sense; otherwise, he would have said, "Upon this rock, I shall build thousands of churches!" That today, there are thousands upon thousands of Christian sects is testimony to man's disobedience to the magisterium of the Catholic Church, which for 1,500 years was only one church. This is why we titled our column last Sunday, "Is your church of human… or divine origin?"

For today's Gospel reading we go to Matt. 16: 21-27 "21* From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. 22* Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, "God forbid Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." 23* He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind him Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

24* Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25* For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26* What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? 27* For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct."

For me, this is one of the most dramatic passages in the Bible. As you can read, our Lord Jesus anoints Peter to be the head of the church that he founded, giving him the power to forgive or not to forgive sins in a church that the gates of hell cannot destroy. Yet, when, for the very first time, our Lord Jesus reveals the startling events in the future as to what would happen to him, they were all in disbelief and Peter, as human as he is, did not want to see this dark future to happen to his Lord. Instead, Jesus rebuked Peter saying, "Get behind him Satan! You are an obstacle to me, you are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

Satan, according to my Layman's Bible Dictionary means, "An evil being, who opposes God." This is the reason why our Lord Jesus said to Peter, "You are an obstacle to me." Indeed, if we were in Peter's shoes, just when we were told the truth that Jesus was really the Messiah, but then would die under the chief priests and scribes, you too would react in the same way.

In fact, some non-Catholics would even dare to say that while the Lord gave Peter the keys of the kingdom, his saying that Peter was Satan was actually his way of taking away those keys from him, so that they can justify their own churches. But if you read on further in the very next chapter on Matt.17: 1-8, you will read about the Transfiguration of Jesus and Peter does play an important role there, most especially after the ascension of our Lord.

Last week, we pointed out clearly that what our Lord Jesus said on Matt. 16: 19 was the power given to our priests to forgive or not to forgive sins. But in today's Gospel, this is with a price when the Lord said, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself and take up his cross." This saying should end all debates why priests should not get married and remain celibate because this is the highest form of human denial. As for the rest of us, our Lord Jesus clearly warns us, "What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? This message is crystal clear… save not on material riches; rather make your soul rich in the eyes of God. God Bless you.

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila's columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com