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.

18 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside.”20 Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish?21 For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith.22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,24 but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Cor 1:18-25)

Pheme Perkins points out that when confronted by this necessity of suffering, most people will react just as Peter did. And perhaps Peter comes to accept it as time passes on. But in what manner? A pious desire to imitate Jesus without the deeper connection that such suffering belongs to God’s plan? In our day, we are given to medicate our suffering by a variety of prescription and non-prescription methods. For someone to reject the means of “medicating” with the sobriquet that “this is God’s plan” is for that someone to receive the askance look from friends and neighbors. And is that rejection what God asks of us?

The signs and miracles that come before our passage make clear that God does not delight in human suffering. The accounts are often begun with Jesus noticing the need as he looks upon it with compassion. Jesus sends out the disciples not only to preach, but also to heal. But they are also sent out to be the compassion of God. We can pray for an end to suffering, but as St. Paul was reminded when he asked God to remove suffering from his life, the response was “No…my grace is sufficient for you.”

As believers we live in the space of a chaotic world groaning for salvation. A world in which suffering is man-made and part of nature. A world which advertises success as a life free of burden and suffering. But as believers we live in the liminal moments that include suffering, trusting that the message of the cross is somehow part of the redemptive plan – and we discern our way past it as best we can.

Image credit: Christ Presenting the Keys to Saint Peter | Nicholas Poussin | Metropolitan Museum | Public Domain