Reading
Matthew 16:24-28
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Comment
Our faith will be able to work miracles, "move mountains": “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move” (Mt 17:20); our faith will be able to subdue the demons to us: "The seventy-two returned full of joy saying: “Lord, the demons also submit to us in your name” (Lk 10:17). But if we do not have the courage to participate also in the sufferings of Christ we will not be able to reign with him. Because no disciple is greater than his teacher (Mt 10:24).
The Son of God has renounced everything for us, his "dispossession" begins from the cradle in Bethlehem and ends with the crucifixion on Golgotha. In this descending parable, he annihilated his divinity in order to fully participate in our humanity, even in its darkest ravines. He "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!" (Phil 2:6-8).
If he has renounced his divinity, what will it be for us to renounce the transitory goods of this world? It is worth quoting again Paul: "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self" (Eph 4:22-24).
Christ "deposed" his divinity to clothe our humanity. He asks us to put down the corruptible things, for which our passions are fatigued, and put on his divinity, to taste (this means the Greek word geuomai, used in this passage of the Gospel of Matthew) life eternal: "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.". (Jn 15:11). It is a joy that is already given to us in this life, if we allow Christ to reign over it.
Prayer
O God, who sent your only Son to redeem us from the snares of sin and lead us to eternal life; grant us to recognize him as a teacher and to follow in his footsteps with an industrious faith, to finally rejoice with him in your kingdom. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
