Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B

Is 50:5-9a
Jas 2:14-18
Mk 8:27-35

“You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” This Gospel rebuke of Jesus to Peter applies to us all. In particular, we tend to think that to be successful in our efforts to win people over to the Gospel and the pro-life message, we have to be popular. This is a human way of thinking, that does not give enough room to the role that the cross, and persecution, play in the plan God has for us. The fact is that people are converted by the truth of the message and by the integrity and faithfulness with which we convey that message even in the face of opposition. People are not ultimately inspired or converted by crowd-pleasers, but by God-pleasers.

Jesus, of course, gives the primary example of this. The fact that the Gospel passage indicates that some people thought he was John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the other prophets gives us a good insight into what he was like. John the Baptist, Elijah, and the prophets were tough preachers, proclaiming hard truths and inviting all kinds of opposition and persecution. A homily on this Gospel might well go back to some of the preaching of these men to illustrate this point.

Success does not require popularity; rather, it requires fidelity. This is a particularly valuable lesson in relation to our efforts to proclaim the sanctity of human life in the face of abortion. People who attack the messenger are, nevertheless, impacted by the message. That’s the very reason they are attacking.

The second reading illustrates the goal of our efforts, namely, not to simply bring people to “believe” in the sanctity of life, but to have them practice it. We are called to respond concretely to the needs of the people we proclaim are sacred. The hungry must be fed, not just spoken about with sympathy. The unborn must be saved from the violence of abortion, not just mentioned in our prayers. Whether it’s a candidate for public office or a Christian in the pews, just “believing” in the right to life is not enough. The pertinent question is, “What will you do to protect those who have that right?”