LEARNING TO WAIT FOR THE PROPER SEASON

TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Is.22:19-23; Ps.138; Rom.11:33-36; Matt.16:13-20

“Then He strictly ordered His disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ.”

Hearing those words from Jesus would in a way make us think that he was a “kill-joy” on the experience of the disciples. The disciples have just experienced a great revelation. They have come to know through the confession of Peter, that their Rabbi was the Christ, the Son of the Living God! They have witnessed the investiture of Peter’s authority, but at the end of the narrative, they were asked to keep quiet about what they have seen and heard.

Scholars provided us with probable reasons why Jesus ordered such silence. On the part of the disciples,

“…they were not yet sufficiently familiar with the true notion of the Messiah, especially a suffering Messiah, to be competent to preach him to others.”

On the part of the Jews, their leaders might hasten Jesus’ capture, trial, and eventually His death. On the part of the Romans, they might consider Jesus and His company as a group preparing for an uprising against them. And so, Jesus gave His restrictions on the Messianic proclamation.

True enough, the disciples did not understand fully their experience. In the events which followed our narrative today, we learned of the disciples deserting Jesus after the Last Supper, locking themselves in the Upper Room after His death, and eventually deciding to go back to their previous occupation as fishermen. It was only after the sending of the Holy Spirit that the doors of their hearts were opened and filled with zeal proclaimed to the ends of the earth that Jesus is the Messiah!

In our lives, we have also a share of what the disciples experienced. Sometimes, we are overjoyed because of the many bountiful blessings we receive: a graduation of a son, a wedding of a daughter, or a job promotion. However, the opposite also rings true. We, too, become extremely saddened even to the point of desperation when things do not go well: a seriously sick loved one, a loss of job and security, or an end to a well spent relationship. In both cases, we have an outburst of emotions because we cannot fully understand why these things happen. Why did I receive such blessing when in fact I am the greatest sinner? Why did I suffer when in fact I have been faithful to God? Thus, I would like to believe that Our Lord will tell us to keep quiet, to tell no one about our experience. He does this not for us to die in overjoy or sorrow. Rather, He wants us to wait for the proper moment, the opportune time. After all, St. Paul in our Second Reading today reminds us that the Lord’s judgements are inscrutable and His ways irrevocable. “For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counsellor?” We cannot directly and fully understand the “Why’s” of our experience.

With this reality, what must we do? How can we joyfully wait for our own Pentecost; for the day when we will come to understand these experiences in life? What should we do so that we will not run away from the Lord and live in fear?

Two things!

First, let us remain focused to who we are and what we are doing. The disciples learned that Jesus was the Messiah during Peter’s confession. However, when Jesus’ dark days commenced, they were out of focus. They began to turn to their own selves. In the end, they left Jesus and locked themselves from the rest. In our lives, there have been and there will be more moments when we cannot understand why things do not turn out the way we expect them to. However, we are challenged to rise above these experiences and stay focused on who we are—the children of God. We are challenged further to always remember that there is more beyond our present concerns because God has destined us for far greater, bigger things.

Second, let us continue to hold on to hope! The disciples lost hope when they saw the Messiah who was supposed to be the Savior become vulnerable before the soldiers and especially the kiss of Judas. When we cannot fully understand the reason of our experiences, sometimes we end up losing hope even to the point of taking away our lives. During these moments, we cannot hold on to anyone or anything else except our hope, our hope in Christ the Lord! We hold on to Christ our hope because He has left us a promise that He is with us until the end of time. He is continuously inviting us to come to Him, to drink from His fount of life and love.

Jesus told the disciples not to tell anyone about their experience because He probably wants them to have a journey first towards themselves – to focus on who and what they really are, and to learn to hold on to hope. Only when these things are in their proper place will God, as mentioned in our First Reading today, “…fix himself like a nail in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family.” We no longer fear because we are holding on to a sure spot!

We heard in the news that four OAR Filipino missionaries have decided to stay with the people in the Ebola–stricken Sierra Leone,

“We will remain steadfast here! We cannot leave the children! We do not want them to feel rejected! We believe that God has sent us here to be with them!”

These words best explain to us that despite their unexplainable condition. They have remained focused with their mission, got out of their comfort zones, and held on to the Hope that is Jesus Christ.