Partial Following

    

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

15 September 2024

 

First Reading: Is 50:5-9a

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9

Second Reading: Jas 2:14-18

Gospel: Mk 8:27-35

 

Reflection

By: Bernard C. Borja

 

Most of us today are familiar with following people and being followed by people in social media. We may know few or plenty of things about a person through what they post or share online. Getting to know people and being updated with them is not that hard today even if we have not met personally. We have our own reasons why we follow people on social media. Those people who have similar values and principles to us may be one of those reasons why we want to be updated about them. This following can go on until a post or something that the person says is not anymore aligned with the follower’s values and principles. For instance, we have seen many people unfollow celebrities who posted or commented about a certain issue which is against what their followers believe or stand for. In the past years, I have seen people unfollow their friends in social media because of issues such as politics and different views about justice. Someone I know was confronted by her longtime friend because of sharing a post by a human rights activist about the ceasefire against Israel’s attack on Gaza. Her friend says that she is siding with the terrorist when she shared that post. They unfollowed each other before even trying to understand and delve deeper into their points. Sometimes, differing points of view and principles can sever a relationship more than being wronged. However, what people share on social media becomes their full self and the basis for judgement. If we ask ourselves, “Who do people say that I am?”, answers can vary depending on what we post and share online, not even considering what we do offline.

If we ask our friends, “Who do you say I am?”, what will they say? I believe they will say a lot about us from a deeper perspective. When Jesus asked the disciples, Peter replied “You are the Christ.” His reply was like he knew Jesus from a deeper perspective. But things go differently when Jesus spoke about how He must suffer greatly. If I were to hear it first, like Peter, I would also react the same way. But in this way, I would only be looking at Jesus as the savior without seeing one of the most important journeys of salvation. We can ask ourselves again, “Who do I say Jesus is?” Do I think of Jesus at all, in trouble times or in joy? Because it greatly matters about the way we direct our lives through Him, the way we worship Him, and the way we live.

Peter did not realize at that time that suffering is part of the divine plan of salvation. Today, we can easily say that suffering is part of human condition but not see it through the eyes of Jesus. There is a difference between suffering and sacrifice. Through Him, suffering has a purpose, which becomes a sacrifice. A mother who suffers physical exhaustion to give her child a better sleep is a sacrifice. A father who endures the time being away from his family to work is a sacrifice. Sacrifice will always be a self-giving act, an act of love, no matter how big or small that deed is. To give a friend a chance to talk about his or her belief and be open to understand his or her principles, is an act of self-giving. I believe that sacrifice is also a “denial of self” which can be achieved only in terms of self-giving and in terms of love.

In everything that we do and decide, we can also ask ourselves, “Where is the following of Christ in this?” Our choices in life and the way we live somehow determines if we follow Christ as our whole self, or just a partial following. We can never separate our views or opinion about justice from the justice that Jesus stands for. Like when someone says that their political views are separate from their religious views. It’s like saying “I am following Christ, but I am letting Him take my cross.” Today, we pray to God to grant us the grace to allow ourselves to be whole in reaching out to Jesus, with all the inconveniences and even pain, for us to be reminded not to look away from the inconvenient part of the divine plan of salvation.

Prayer

Dearest Lord, teach us to look at our lives through Jesus. May we transform our suffering by giving it purpose and do it as a selfless act of love. We pray for the people around us that we may share the sufferings in terms of self-giving and love for each other. In Jesus' Name we pray, AMEN.