This Teaching is Hard
The questions just kept coming. She asked, Where do Adam and Eve fit in if scientists say that we evolved from cavemen? Did God really take 7 days to create everything? He’s God, so why didn’t He just do everything all at one time? What evidence do we have that Jesus was crucified? She pondered the triviality of our existence in a universe so big that maybe it’s actually a multi-verse.
My daughter’s barrage of questions caught me off-guard. The first thing that popped into my head was, “Oh no, Lord. Here we go. She’s going to walk away from the Catholic faith, and I will have failed as a mother!” Thankfully, my drama subsided quickly, and clarity arrived to calm my mind. I was suddenly grateful that these questions were coming now. Yes, my child was concerning me a bit with all her questions, but I was incredibly grateful that she was asking these questions while she was at home - at home with me. She asked the big questions in a time and a space where she could get good, solid answers.
What I told her, and what I have been mulling around in my head this week is: Sweetie, these teachings are hard.
There are parts about our faith that are hard to grasp, hard to believe, and difficult to rationalize. Some things are hard to understand why they happened, or how they happened. Have you ever questioned why it is that we believe what we believe as Catholics? Or, an even broader question, have you ever questioned why things happen? It could be a trivial thing like, why did my orange juice have to spill right before I was leaving for work? Or a much larger thing like, why does suffering exist?
I asked both questions recently, and thankfully this weekend’s Gospel jumped into my hands and hasn’t left my head.
Take time to enter the scene from Mark 8:27-35. In a nutshell, Jesus is with his disciples, and his disciples now know that he is the Messiah. What great news! However, the life is sucked out of the room when Jesus reveals that he must suffer, be rejected, and die as their Savior. Peter takes Jesus aside and lets Jesus know that he is not on board with this plan. Peter, and I’m guessing the rest of the apostles too, were expecting more time with Jesus, and maybe a little more “greatness” from their Messiah. Peter isn’t ready to hear that Jesus will be the kind of Messiah that is shamed and scourged! And this is the part of the story where I am speechless: After Peter rebukes Jesus, Jesus turns around to look at the rest of the disciples (as if to check to see if they had the same feels as Peter), and Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Mic drop.
It’s not about how Peter felt in that moment. It’s not about how I feel when my orange juice spills or how sad it is when tragedy strikes. When I think about why things happen on a human level or basically have a “what’s in it for me” perspective, I will not learn from them in the way that Jesus intended me to learn. Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
Sweetie, this teaching is hard.
I told Aubrey that, and I need to listen and believe those same words. Peter and the disciples eventually saw how the suffering and death of Jesus had to come before the glorious resurrection of Jesus. Despite difficult teachings and despite difficult circumstances in our lives, may we all strive to take up our crosses and see how Jesus desires us to think on a different level and learn from each situation.
