Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu cho chúng ta sẽ biết rằng Chúa đang có một mối lo lắng và một gánh nặng rất to lớn, nếu như chúng ta chứng kiến được những lời cầu nguyện của Ngài trong khu vườn cây dầu vào đêm trước khi Ngài phải chịu nạn chúng ta có thể biết được Ngài đã phải mang cái gánh nặng này đã bao lâu rồi. Chúng ta có hai cách để đọc và suy nghĩ về bàiTin Mừng hôm nay.
1 - Chúng ta có thể đọc đó như là bài chia sẽ mà Chúa Giêsu muốn tâm sự. Ngài muốn chia sẻ gánh nặng này với những các môn đệ của Ngài và những ai muốn gần gũi với Ngài. Nhưng có lẽ họ không có đủ sức mạnh để hiểu và chịu đựng cái nỗi đau thương của Ngài.
Chúa Giêsu biết những gì đang đến, sẽ đến và Ngài can đảm, cam kết sẽ thực thi theo ý muốn của Chúa Cha. Cho dù Ngài đã biết về sự đau khổ và phải chết trên Thập Giá nhục nhã trước khi Ngài đã tập đọc được những chữ cái đầu tiên hay Ngài chỉ biết được cái số phận của mình sau này, Ngài luôn luôn biết rằng Ngài sẽ làm theo ý Chúa Cha, mà không làm theo ý riêng mình. Lạy Chúa xin Giúp cúng con có can đảm để làm theo ý Chúa.
I wonder when Jesus learned that he would die on the Cross, or if he always knew it. I mean to say, did he know it as a five-year-old boy or did he learn it at some point later in life? He was not taken by surprise: he teaches his disciples about the sufferings to come and he discusses the Cross with Elijah and Moses during the Transfiguration. We know that it was a great burden for him, as is clear from his prayers in the garden on the night before he died, but how long did he carry this burden?
It seems to me that there are two distinct ways to read the Gospel today. We could read it as Jesus trying to share this burden with those closest to him, but they are not strong enough to help bear it, or we could read it as Jesus, knowing that his disciples would not be able to bear the burden that he carried but also wanting to prepare his disciples for his death, tells them about the suffering and death to come, but prevents them from understanding.
In the year leading up to the Cross, Jesus told his disciples many times that he would suffer and die. They did not understand then, but after he died and rose from the dead they remembered these teachings. Remembering them after the fact, with the Cross in the past, they are transformed, from the burden they would have been, to the revelation they are now.
These words are a revelation because they teach us so much about Jesus Christ. Because of these words we know that he was fully aware of the death he would suffer, yet he does not say these words as a merely prescient person would. If you knew right now the death that awaits you, your first instinct would be to consider ways to avoid it, but Jesus does not begin planning ways to avoid his fate. He knows what is coming, and he is committed to doing the will of the Father. Whether he knew about the Cross before he learned his first words or if he did not know until the year before, he always knew that he would do the will of his Father, no matter what.
“Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying. Luke 9:44–45
This is the second time that Jesus predicts His coming passion to His Apostles. After telling them that He will be handed over, the Gospel relates that “they did not understand this saying.” It also states that “they were afraid to ask him about this saying.” Why did they not understand, and why were they afraid to ask Jesus about His coming passion?
The Apostles were deeply attached to our Lord, both on a spiritual level and also through their affections. And this is good. But sometimes our affections can cloud our thinking and make it difficult to understand the deeper spiritual realities in life. Though our affections are natural, they must always be directed by the will of God. For example, if we were to try to understand Jesus’ affections, we’d have to conclude that He both spiritually and affectionately desired to lay down His life for the salvation of souls in accord with the will of the Father. He not only chose this with His will, but He also desired it in His affections, because His affections were perfectly ordered.
The Apostles, however, were unable to understand that Jesus had to lay down His life, be rejected, suffer and die, in part because they were very attached to Jesus in an emotional and affectionate way. So in this instance, their human love and attachment to Jesus hindered their ability to understand the greater spiritual good of Jesus laying down His life.
Consider, also, our Blessed Mother. How would she have reacted to Jesus saying that He had to be handed over, be rejected, suffer and die? Though this would have grieved her with a holy sorrow, the perfection of her human nature would have led her to not only understand and accept this deep spiritual truth, but she would have also desired this to happen within her affections because she perfectly desired the fulfillment of the will of the Father. There would have been no conflict within her between the will of the Father and what she desired.
In our own lives, we will often tend to struggle in the same way that the Apostles struggled. When faced with some challenging cross in life, a cross that the Father calls us to embrace freely, we will often find that our affections resist. When this happens, we become confused and even fearful of the future. Thus, the only way to conquer fear is to work to surrender every emotion, every affection and every human attachment over to the will of the Father so that His will is all we desire with every power of our soul.
Reflect, today, upon the interior struggle of these Apostles as they came face-to-face with this the second time Jesus began to prepare them to accept, understand, choose and desire His passion. Consider the interior struggle they went through at that time and even as they saw this unfold. Eventually they understood. Eventually all fear vanished. And eventually they affectionately rejoiced in Jesus’ sacrifice. But it took much time and much surrender. Reflect upon those ways our Lord is inviting you to choose His Cross in your life. Where you see your affections resisting, try to surrender, pray for understanding and seek the courage you need to desire His Cross with all your soul.
My revealing Lord, You opened Your divine heart to Your Apostles and invited them to understand and choose Your suffering and death. And though they hesitated and struggled, You continued to invite them to embrace the Father’s will. Give me the grace I need, dear Lord, to embrace every spiritual truth first and foremost and to allow that Truth to free me from fear and fill me with the gift of understanding. Jesus, I trust in You.
Encountering the Word of God
1. The Vanity of Life and the Certainty of Death: The First Reading, from Ecclesiastes, is a meditation on the vanity of life and the certainty of death. The outlook of Quoheleth, the Preacher, is very grim and dark. Earlier he wrote: “For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity” (11:8). The Preacher doesn’t try to look beyond the grave. He encourages young people to enjoy the days of their youth but to know also that God will judge them for their actions. “Because God is also Judge and will hold man accountable for his actions (3:17; 11:9; 12:14), Qoheleth urges readers to fear [God] (5:7; 12:13), to keep his commandments (12:13), and to avoid thoughtless expressions of prayer and worship (5:2-3). He is convinced that ‘it will be well with those who fear God’ (8:12)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, 66). Qoheleth also uses several images to talk about old age and the end of life. He thinks of the grave as man’s eternal home. Man’s body is dust and the dust returns to the earth. Yet in all this, there is a glimmer of hope, for man’s spirit, breathed into man and given by God, returns not to the earth but to God. This is only a glimmer, since Qoheleth has no vision of ongoing life or happiness after death (9:5, 10) (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, 66).
2. Jesus’ Redemptive Death: When Qoheleth calls all things vanity, he means that they are fleeting and that they quickly pass away. Vain are worldly pleasures, wealth, worldly wisdom, and the vigor of youth. They all pass away and death is inevitable. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus also speaks about death. This is the second time he foretells his death. The first time was after Peter’s confession of faith; this second time took place after the Transfiguration. This is how Jesus introduces his disciples into the mystery of redemption. This mystery of redemption and Jesus’ passion were foreshadowed in part by the ceremonial sacrifice of one goat and the sending-away of another goat. We deserved death due to our sin. But Jesus transferred to himself what was our due and laid down his life on the Cross so that we might be sent away from death and destruction (see Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Homily 53).
3. Jesus’ Response to Qoheleth: Jesus tasted death for every man (Hebrews 2:9). He does this so that human beings can be transformed. Since this transformation had to be carried out through suffering, sinful humankind was always rebelling against it. So, Jesus, the pioneer of our salvation, had to submit himself to this suffering, although personally he had no need to do so. Jesus took on a human nature and in the flesh accepted the painful transforming action of God so as to be able to communicate it to us, his brothers and sisters (see Vanhoye, A Different Priest, 111). Through his death, Jesus destroyed death. After Jesus’ resurrection, we can respond to Qoheleth that not everything ends with the grave – that with Christ, there are things that are not vanity. Yes, human beings still die. But this is not the end, since death is only a passage from this life to the next. Yes, human beings will be judged. However, our Judge is not only just, but is also merciful. Yes, worldly treasure is fleeting. But there is heavenly treasure that lasts. Yes, the joys of youth pass away. But there is a heavenly joy that will not pass away. Yes, our bodies return to the earth. But on the last day, they will gloriously be raised with Jesus.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you died on the Cross for me, broke the ancient curse, and established the New Covenant. As you died, you begged the Father to forgive me and gave your mother to care for me. Help me to imitate your loving and obedient sacrifice.
1. “The Son of Man Is to Be Handed Over”: The disciples of Jesus were amazed at his multiplication of loaves and fishes and the many healings he performed, but at this moment, Jesus intentionally diverted their attention away from his successes. Instead, for the second time, Jesus told them he would suffer and die. Still, it didn’t sink in. Human understanding is not always capable of grasping the ways of God. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways—oracle of the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts higher than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:5-6). Jesus wanted the apostles to know that suffering fit into God’s plan, so he would tell them as often as they needed to hear it. When we are confused or seek discernment about the way God is working in our life, we need to persevere in prayer until we understand the message.
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