This coming Sunday, the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, is taken from Mark 8:27-35. Clearly this passage points to suffering and death as being at the heart of God’s plan of redemption and salvation. The passage does not explain why this is the plan, it just insists that this is the way it will be. It sets up a dissonance to our way of thinking. Clearly the accounts of Jesus to this point in the Gospel reveal his cosmic powers over nature, death, illness, demons and more. How can he then permit the enemies who wish to destroy him ultimately succeed? St. Paul’s insistence that the gospel of the cross makes a mockery of our human concepts of success. Continue reading →