Obstruction Ahead

It never fails. Just when I’m in a hurry to get somewhere, the sign appears: “obstruction ahead.” Ugh. So frustrating. They seem to be everywhere. Road construction season in Edmonton is short, I know. There is only so much time for the workers to get done what they have to do, so patience is called for. But still … Sigh.

Another kind of obstruction is addressed in the Gospel passage we heard proclaimed on Sunday (Matthew 16:21-27), when Jesus tells Peter he is an obstacle to him. Yikes!!! That is a serious accusation. Jesus is the Son of God who has come to reveal the love and mercy of God and save the world from the darkness of sin. Who would ever want to stand in the way of that?! Well, we know that Satan does. The Devil wants nothing more than to stand in the way of Christ. Notice, though, that the famous “Get behind me Satan” is spoken by the Lord when he looks at Peter. Jesus tells Peter in no uncertain terms that, by thinking in accord with human, not divine logic, he becomes an obstacle, he stands in the way. The teaching here is sobering. We surrender to the demonic, we participate in Satan’s mission of obstruction, when we allow the ways of the world, and not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to shape our mindset.

Peter’s error finds widespread repetition today, rooted in the prideful and illusory exaltation of the radically autonomous Self. The way of the Gospel is the path of humility, repentance and conversion, springing from a life-changing encounter with the truth of Christ. The way of the world is proud self-assertion, rooted in surrender to the lie that we do not need God. Adam and Eve were tricked into this error, and humanity has been seduced ever since to repeat their original sin and thus become an obstacle to the saving plan of God.

St. Paul echoes to all of us the warning Jesus gave to Peter. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) How does this renewal of our minds, and hence our whole lives, happen? By embracing the Cross of Christ. There God reveals the logic that shapes our mindset in accord with the Gospel. To take up our cross daily as disciples of Christ is to make of our lives an obedient self-gift to God for the sake of the world. As St. Paul puts it, the embrace of the Cross finds expression when we offer ourselves “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” (Romans 12:1) Renewal happens when every aspect of our lives is an act of praise to God instead of to the ego.

We understand road obstructions due to construction. Let there be no tolerance in our lives for obstacles to the will of God.