22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, A September 3, 2023
Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
“Get behind me Satan.” It’s quite the change, really. Last week’s gospel shows Jesus naming Simon “Rock” – Peter in Greek – and proclaiming that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against the Church founded on that rock. Mere minutes later, Jesus uses a very different name for Simon Peter: Satan. Kind of looks like that promise of never being defeated didn’t last very long, doesn’t it?
Appearances can be deceiving. In fact, that’s exactly the point Jesus makes: “you are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Simon Peter reacts very strongly against Jesus’ proclamation that he – the messiah, God incarnate – must be betrayed, suffer, and die. Anyone would quite naturally want to prevent the suffering and death of their beloved teacher and friend. But, we can’t rely only on nature.
God designed nature, not just birds and trees and rocks, but human nature as well. Yet, human nature is wounded and blinded by Original Sin. So, Simon Peter’s response is natural, but wrong because we are called to a supernatural way of life, a life of faith and grace.
This is why, last week, Jesus took the time to invite Simon’s act of faith. By grace, Simon was inspired to recognize the supernatural reality of Jesus as God incarnate. Seeing that faith, Jesus knew it was time to begin to tell them about the mystery of the cross. He knew this would be difficult for them even with the gift of faith. He knew it would create confusion and tension. But he told them anyway because they needed to hear it, to be challenged to grow. This is why every Catholic evangelizer should also be willing to proclaim truths they know the world will want to reject. Even if some do walk away, the strain of coming to accept difficult teachings, to accept the cross is necessary.
Jesus sets this precedent from the top down. In the very same day he promises to protect the pope from losing the truth of the gospel, he demonstrates how that pope can make mistakes without actually losing the gospel. Jesus rebukes Peter, but he does not cast him out or retract his promises. Then it happens again during Holy Week. Simon Peter denies Jesus three times, but within a few days is once again told to “tend” the sheep of Jesus’ flock, to lead the Church as the shepherd, rock, and pope of the Church that the netherworld will never overcome.
This scriptural example is wonderful! But it’s also a little to easy for us to idealize it. We’re talking about Saint Peter the Apostle. We know how the story ends and so maybe we don’t appreciate how hard it was for Peter and the other Apostles in the moment. To be called “Satan” by your friend, teacher, and Lord? To see that man suffer and die? To watch as the boldest, strongest person in your group of friends… the guy that was supposed to be your leader… to see him deny the Lord and run away like a coward? The Apostles did not know, they could not see how those events would turn around in a few days, much less how it would lead to the conversion of the entire Roman Empire within a few hundred years. We know that it did, but they didn’t.
Sometimes faith in God means simply accepting that you can’t understand what God is up to… that you simply have to say “okay, I trust you. I’ll hold on even if it doesn’t make sense to me.” Because, well, if we can’t think like God, we can at least avoid the mistake of thinking only like a human being. That’s what faith is… it’s the virtue, the ability to transcend mere human thinking even before we rise to the level of thinking like God.
And this faith applies not just to Jesus, but to the Catholic Church, the one true Church, the Church established by Jesus on the rock of Simon Peter’s profession of faith. Where Peter is, there is the Church, there is God… even when the pope doesn’t seem very godly to us.
This is why I warned you last week and now reapeat: do not turn your back on the pope, no matter what. At the same time, do not give way to laziness, to sloth, to a kind of careless, thoughtless approach to the Church and your faith. God promises he will protect the teaching of the Church and the pope, but it doesn’t mean the pope will be perfect as Peter demonstrates. How do we sort through the differences though?
First, notice that Peter does not publicly and solemnly declare “Jesus will not die, don’t worry!” That would be heresy because Jesus was going to die. Peter took Jesus aside to rebuke him. The pope’s authority, his official teaching power is not the same thing as his every thought and word. The pope’s personal opinions, the rumors of what he said to people in private… these are not protected by the Holy Spirit.
A famous scene from the novel “Brideshead Revisited” might help too. In it, a priest describes an interview with a potential convert. He says, “I asked… ‘Supposing the Pope looked up and saw a cloud and said ‘It’s going to rain’, would that be bound to happen?’ ‘Oh, yes, Father.’ ‘But supposing it didn’t?’ He thought a moment and said, “I suppose it would be sort of raining spiritually, only we were too sinful to see it.”
That’s absurd. Catholics don’t believe the pope can infallibly predict the weather. Simply saying “whatever you say” to priests and popes is not faith. It’s laziness. It is only when the pope invokes his sacred authority to teach in an official capacity that we consider it infallible. St. Peter said and did some stupid things, but those were the actions of Simon the man, not Peter the pope. Compare today’s gospel with Peter’s sermon on Pentecost. Compare his denial of Jesus with the two letters he wrote, letters that are now part of the New Testament.
Be careful! It is not our job, nor is it realistic for us to sort through every single word and action of the pope to compare it to all of Church teaching and decide if he’s right or wrong. Honestly, it’s better not to pay attention to every word. Take note of the big stuff, the authoritative things: high level documents, canonizations, decrees… that kind of thing. Many of the pope’s daily homilies and interviews are good, but many aren’t. If they help your faith, hope, and love, great. If not, don’t worry. None of those things are likely to have any lasting effect on what Catholics are expected to believe.
If there is something authoritative, then the default position is to follow his authority… not lazily, but with humble, thoughtful, and prayerful engagement. The pope authoritatively says something I don’t like? Don’t assume he’s wrong. Maybe I misunderstand it. Maybe I’m blinded by my pride. Maybe I need some conversion. And if you like what he says… beware the opposite extreme of beating other Catholics over the head with it, jumping to accuse them of heresy, schism, and sin.
St. Paul warns us in the second reading: “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” This age – thinking as human beings do – is caught up in factions, loyalty to party politics, sound-bytes, and outrage. Thinking as God does, being transformed by the “renewal” of your minds? That’s a process that takes time, grace, and effort. Maybe you can’t make heads or tails of what God is doing with the Synod, the Church, or the Pope. You don’t have to figure everything out. You have to trust.
To be a good Catholic doesn’t mean you have to like the pope, but you do have to love him and, yes, respect him. You don’t have to think the pope is a saint, but you do have to pray for him. You don’t have to think the pope is doing a good job, but you do have to accept his authority and try to live out his authoritative teaching. And if you think he’s wonderful and effective, great! But don’t be quick to accuse others of being heretics because they struggle to see it the way you do.
Regardless of how you feel about the pope and the Church today – confused, excited, mostly unaware – the path for all of us shares a common theme: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” The Apostles didn’t understand. Peter himself didn’t understand. But they kept trying and God used them anyway. The truth survived anyway. The Church will not fail, the truth will not change even if our understanding of it does. In the end, what matters most is not theological cleverness or political success. We will be judged by our deeds, deeds of love that springs from the faith of those who think not as human beings do, but as God does. And God keeps his promises.