Isaiah 50:5-9 Psalm 116 James 2:14-16 Mark 8:27-35 THE CROSS September 14 is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This Sunday, just two days before, our readings have us consider the Suffering Servant from Isaiah and Jesus predicting his suffering and death in the gospel. It almost sounds like an “early Lent” here in mid-September, but any time is a good time to keep the Cross before us!
ISAIAH
The first reading is from the third of the four Servant Songs in Isaiah. It is a vivid description of the sufferings that the Servant of the Lord will undergo.
In this selection there is a striking expression of trust in God: “The Lord God is my help; therefore, I am not disgraced...See, the Lord God is my help; who will prove me wrong?”
This theme of utter trust is echoed in the Responsorial, Psalm 116: “I love the Lord because he has heard my voice in supplication...I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.”
GOSPEL
Today's gospel passage represents something of a turning point in Mark's gospel. Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah. But when Jesus begins to speak about his upcoming sufferings, death and resurrection, Peter “took him aside and began to rebuke him.”
Jesus, in turn, “rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.’”
Jesus then proceeds to issue a challenge to the crowd and his disciples: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”
Jesus is indeed the Messiah, as Peter proclaimed, but is a suffering Messiah. His followers must see the cross as central to their lives as it was to his.
JAMES
Our second reading, from the Letter of James, talks about faith and works. Faith without works is a dead faith.
James also issues a challenge: “Demonstrate your faith to me without works and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.” St. Paul would express the same truth as “faith working through love.” (Gal. 5:6)
GLORY IN THE CROSS?
The Entrance Antiphon for Holy Thursday, based on Gal. 6:14, is: “We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered.”
It may seem counterintuitive to glory in the very instrument of Jesus' torturous death, but through the cross of Jesus we find our “salvation, life, and resurrection.” That is, if and only if we actually deny ourselves, take up our individual cross and follow Jesus—losing our lives for his sake.
Today, then, becomes a fitting preview and preparation for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.