“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me…” (Matthew 16:24)
In commenting on this verse from today’s Gospel, Saint John Chrysostom writes:
When did he teach this? When Peter said, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” And when Peter was told, “Get behind me, Satan,” Jesus did not merely rebuke Peter. He was willing to teach him more fully of the benefit of his Passion and about the exceeding confusion in what Peter had said. So he responds in effect: “Your word to me is that this shall never happen to me, but my word to you is ‘Not only is this hurtful to you, and destructive, to hinder me and be displeased at my Passion.’ But more so it will be impossible for you even to be saved, unless you yourself are continually prepared for death.”
So, lest anyone should imagine that his suffering was unworthy of him, he teaches them what great gain will come from it. This applies not only to his former afflictions but also to those yet to come. Later he will teach in John’s Gospel that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”8 So he now begins discussing more fully the outworkings of the future, not only with respect to his own suffering and death but with theirs as well. Unwillingness to die is grievous, but to be ready for death is good and of great profit.
Jesus makes this clear by what follows, but for the present he works it out on one side only. Note that he does not say, “You must suffer whether you will it or not.” Rather, he says, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” This is as if to say: “I force no one, I compel no one, but each one I make lord of his own choice. So I say, ‘If any one will.’”(The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 55)
So, lest anyone should imagine that his suffering was unworthy of him, he teaches them what great gain will come from it. This applies not only to his former afflictions but also to those yet to come. Later he will teach in John’s Gospel that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”8 So he now begins discussing more fully the outworkings of the future, not only with respect to his own suffering and death but with theirs as well. Unwillingness to die is grievous, but to be ready for death is good and of great profit.
Jesus makes this clear by what follows, but for the present he works it out on one side only. Note that he does not say, “You must suffer whether you will it or not.” Rather, he says, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” This is as if to say: “I force no one, I compel no one, but each one I make lord of his own choice. So I say, ‘If any one will.’”(The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 55)
Collect
O God,
Who in Your mercy
led Saint Clare to a love of poverty,
grant, through her intercession,
that, following Christ in poverty of spirit,
we may merit to contemplate You
one day in the heavenly Kingdom.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Who in Your mercy
led Saint Clare to a love of poverty,
grant, through her intercession,
that, following Christ in poverty of spirit,
we may merit to contemplate You
one day in the heavenly Kingdom.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
