DWBC
Divine Word Biblical Center
Lectio Divina
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)
Luke 9. 18-24
Jesus’ identity
OPENING PRAYER
You can make your own prayer or use the following
“O Holy Spirit, you who unite my soul to God: move it with ardent desires and enkindle it with the fire of your love. How good you are with me, O Holy Spirit of God: may you be praised and blessed for the great love that you pour out upon me! My God and my Creator, is it ever possible that there would be someone who would not love you? For so long I have not loved you! Forgive me, Lord. O Holy Spirit, grant that my soul may be completely God’s, and that I may serve Him without any personal interest, but only because He is my Father and because He loves me. My God and my all, is there perhaps any other thing that I could possibly desire? Only You would satisfy me. Amen.” (St. Teresa of Jesus)
I.LECTIO
Introduction to the Gospel
In today’s gospel, Jesus presents his would-be disciples with a uniquely important means of self-identification.
We read and study the gospel according to Luke [9.18-24]
18: Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
19: They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”
20: Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Messiah of God.”
21: He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
22: 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.”
23: Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
24: For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
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The following commentary may help to get a deeper understanding of the text.
Careful readers of the synoptic gospels will notice that Luke’s narrative of Peter’s confession and the conditions of discipleship differs slightly, but very significantly, from those of his fellow evangelists (see Mark 8.27-35; Matthew 16.13-25). In issuing the challenge to his disciples that they deny themselves and take up their cross and follow him, the Lucan Jesus added the words kath’hemeran, which mean daily or each day. (v. 23). Just as Jesus’ question, “Who do you say I am?” requires a daily decision and a daily response and just as our response to that question requires a daily recommitment to Christ and a daily willingness to be identified as his disciple, so also will the suffering which discipleship necessarily entails require a daily acceptance. As Luke Timothy Johnson (The Gospel of Luke, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN: 1991) has explained, Luke understands discipleship as something more than a momentary decision or surviving an occasional testing. By his use of the present tense (whoever wishes. . . must deny... take up... and follow) and by adding the words each day, Luke moves the challenge of Jesus in the direction of a Christian spirituality. In other words, the self-denial and acceptance of the cross which are integral to discipleship are not seasonal or part-time exercises but a way of life.
Jesus’ second challenge, concerning the losing of one’s life in order to save it, confronts believers with the paradox which is Christian commitment. Believers are called, by virtue of their identity with Christ, to lose themselves in the service of others. William Barclay (“The Gospel of Luke, The Daily Study Bible, the St. Andrew Press, Edinburgh: 1975) suggested that discipleship requires that life be spent and not hoarded. In order to do so, believers must live in contradiction of those worldly standards which ask of life: “How much can I get? What is the safe thing to do? What is the bare minimum I can do to get by?” Disciples of Jesus, who are willing to lose their lives in his service must ask other questions: How much can I give? What is the right thing to do? What is the maximum I can offer?