Gospel: Luke
9:18-22
Once when
Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them,
“Who do the crowds say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist;
others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’” Then
he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Christ
of God.” He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
He said,
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief
priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
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Reflection:
Why does
Jesus always reminds his disciples about his impending sufferings? Why not keep
His sufferings only to Himself? Come to think of it if Jesus had concealed
suffering from His disciples He could have attracted more disciples. But Jesus
did not lie to them, He did not sugar coat His words to attract them. He was honest and He laid down everything to
them.
Many of
us don’t want to talk of sufferings when following Jesus. However the moment we
take away sufferings then there’s no more authentic discipleship for Jesus. This
is for the reason that discipleship without going through suffering is fake
discipleship.
How could
we have a clearer picture of Jesus if we wouldn’t go through pains and
sufferings? How could we know Jesus more deeply if we are not willing to suffer
for Him? If we say that we follow Jesus and we are afraid of sufferings then we
are not really a follower. We are simply bystanders who don’t care much about
the mission of Jesus.
As they
say, No Pain No Gain if we relate this with our discipleship with Jesus. it now
becomes, No Pain No Date in Heaven with Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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