One of the reasons there are so many skyscrapers in Chicago is because you can drill down to bedrock. You can build a firm foundation on rocky ground, firm enough to hold up a tall building. When you see a house made out of stone you know it is well built. A stone house will last a long time. When the pharaohs in Egypt wanted monuments which would endure through the ages, they built the pyramids of stone. Rocks and stones signify solidity and strength. On the other hand, the Berlin Wall was made of rocks because a solid stone wall would keep people in. If there is a rock in the middle of the road it can block your way. And who hasn’t tripped over a stone left on the path. So rocks and stones can have both a positive and a negative meaning. On the one hand rocks provide a firm foundation. On the other, they serve as obstacles that can keep us from getting where we’re going. Jesus seems to have that ambiguity in mind when he looked at Peter. If you remember in last week’s gospel from the beginning of Matthew chapter 16 Jesus calls Peter “blessed” and names him as the “Rock,” as the foundation, as the building block of the church. A very positive description. Just a few verses later in the passage we heard today Peter is called “Satan,” is described as an obstacle, as a stumbling block. What changed Peter from building block to stumbling block? Peter was a building block when he recognized Jesus as the Christ, the son of the Living God. Peter became a stumbling block when he objected to Jesus suffering and dying. Apparently when Peter called Jesus “the Christ” he imagined that meant only good things were going to happen to him. After all, he was the son of the living God. How could anything bad happen to him! However, Jesus rebuked Peter because he knew that being the Christ, being the son of God, being beloved of the Father meant one thing above all: thinking as God does, not as human beings do. From the human perspective when you are blessed only good thinks happen to you. From the divine perspective no matter what happens to you, you are blessed. The challenge Jesus throws down at Peter and at us – are we going to be building blocks or stumbling blocks?
Jesus instructs us on how to become building blocks: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” To be building blocks we must deny ourselves. Turn off that TV and spend some time doing something for others. Push away that food you don’t need to be a better steward of the body God gave you. Bite your tongue before gossiping about someone else. Denying ourselves these seemingly small things provides a firm foundation for God’s activity. And to be building blocks we must take up our cross. Those crosses come to us most often because of our state in life. If you are young, take up the cross of being a student. Resist the temptation to fritter away your time so that you can develop yourself to your fullest potential. If you are a parent, take up the cross of guiding your children. They need you to spend quality time with them to ensure that they are receiving the proper values. If you are married, take up the cross of being a spouse. One must work at communicating and sharing life if two are to become one as the Bible teaches us married couples are supposed to be. Every life situation comes with a cost, with a cross, and taking it up is what God expects of us. Finally, Jesus says we become building blocks by following him. We follow Jesus on the road to Jericho where we learn to serve those who are in need in imitation of the Good Samaritan. We follow Jesus on the road to Emmaus where we let the word of God burn within us and recognize him in the breaking of the bread. We follow Jesus most particularly on the road to Jerusalem, even on the road up Calvary’s hill, where we trust in the will of God for us even if it involves sacrifice and suffering. Following Jesus wherever he leads makes us into the building blocks of the kingdom of God.
St. Paul talks about what following Jesus entails in the twelfth chapter of his epistle to the Romans: “Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God.” Do not conform yourself but be transformed. The apostle is warning us that there are competing sets of values out there – those of the world and those of God – and we have to make sure that our one desire and choice is always what God wants. But the values of this age are so pervasive (because of the media?) that it takes a great deal of attention on our part even to notice them for what they are. That is why the epistle speaks of the need for transformation, for change, for conversion from the things that are all around us. For example, we are constantly being bombarded with the need to acquire more, the newest, the latest. If we are conformed to this age we have to have the latest car, the fanciest clothing, the cutting edge technology. When we renew our mind in God we are transformed to see that what we get doesn’t make us valuable but what we give. Or again, the media constantly sends out a message that we are supposed to be sexy. The truly beautiful people are not those with the greatest figures but with the greatest souls. This age also tries to persuade us that what matters is success, accomplishment, triumph. What’s the adage: winning isn’t the best thing, it’s the only thing. It’s not wearing the championship ring that matters but hearing the angels sing.
Church, Jesus in the gospels leaves us with a paradox. “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” This age teaches us how to make it in this world. Jesus teaches us how to make it through this world in order to attain the next. This age tells us how to have a good time. Jesus teaches us how to have the best time, the time of our lives, the eternal time that is life in God.
