Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Daily gospel
exegesis podcast and we're doing just that we're looking at the
Gospel reading from today's mass and we're looking at what Jesus
was saying, what the gospel author was trying to say, and
we're trying to get it, the literal sense.
That's always where we want to start when we're studying the
Bible. And so, today we're going to
hear from Luke chapter 9 verses 22 to 25.
Jesus said to his disciples, the son of man is destined to suffer
grievously to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and
scribes and to be put to death and to be raised up on the third
day. Then to all he said, if anyone
wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and
take up his cross every day and follow me.
For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it but anyone who
loses his life for my sake, that man will save it.
What gain then is it for a man to have one the whole world and
and to have lost or ruined, his very self So, challenging
teaching in here and we're hearing from Luke's version, but
you'll hear very similar versions in Mark and Matthew as
well. So let's start by talking about
the context. So just before this in Luke
chapter 9, Jesus is asked his disciples.
Who do you say that I am? And of course Peter answers.
You are the Christ. And then Jesus tells them not to
tell anyone that he is the Christ, and then it leads
immediately into this. So this is kind of the second
half of Jesus sentence that were about to hear his just finish
telling the disciples. Don't tell anyone I'm the
Christ. And then he says the son of man
is destined. So Jesus teaches them things
that these things from the perspective of Prophecy so think
about the words, he used destined, so he's about to tell
them some things that has to happen to the son of man.
Now it's not really, it doesn't use the word.
I he doesn't say these, things must happen to me.
He says According to God's Plan of Salvation as made clear in
the Old Testament. All of these things that he's
about to list must happen to the son of man.
So the word must have another translation of destined Jesus
wants his disciples here to understand that these things
must happen. And they won't be accidents or
tragedies though. They might appear to be when
Jesus dies. It looks all very tragic, but
Jesus wants them to be able to recall what he's about to tell
them that these things must happen.
When here it talks about the son of man, that's an image from the
Old Testament, particularly The Book of Daniel and the son of
man in the Book of Daniel is a figure of both humiliation and
glory. And so Jesus used the name, son
of man for himself quite a bit and in some cases it talks about
humiliation. And in some places it talks
about Glory So what are the things that Jesus says must
happen to the son of, man, there's a whole list of them.
He's destined to suffer, grievously, to be rejected by
the elders, and chief priests and scribes, and to be put to
death and stir. And to be raised up on the third
day. So to suffer grievously, Jesus
starts to tell them about the rejection that he's going to
face. And he's going to be rejected by
the elders and the chief priests and the scribes.
So that's the Jewish leaders at the time.
In that culture, who should have accepted Jesus, as Messiah as
the Messiah, they're the ones that are going to reject him.
To be put to death and to be raised up on the third day,
since I think about it. This is all a very specific
prophecy. Jesus is telling them some quite
specific things that are going to happen to him.
Now, to be raised up on the third day, that is very, you
know, Jesus could have been raised up on seven days
afterwards or even just one day afterwards.
So, why does Jesus? You could say, Jesus, picks
three days, why does he choose to stay in there for three days,
there's probably a few reasons, one of them, I think Taps into
Hosea, 6122. And if we think about
recapitulation. And so, one of the things Jesus
does in his ministry, is he recapitulates the story of
Israel. So things that happen to Israel
are things that happened to Jesus.
So they were tempted in the wilderness.
Jesus is tempted in the wilderness.
They spent time in Egypt and Jesus spent time in Egypt and
that comes out really clearly in the Book of Matthew in
particular. And here's another place where I
think it might be happening. So Hosea, 6122 says he will he
will revise revive us after two days on the third day he will
raise us up to live in his presence.
So in the context of Hosea that talks about God raising up
Israel after suffering, So, Jesus appears to apply this
specific Hosea prophecy to himself.
And he's basically saying the whole Destiny of Israel is going
to soon. Be summed up in himself, he's
going to suffer just as Israel suffered but then be raised up
on the third day. So in the case of Israel, it was
a metaphor as in, in three days, God will raise you up.
That's kind of a metaphorical thing, but Jesus is going to
take that and it appears is going to fill that fulfill that
quite literally, it's quite an interesting thing, isn't it?
If you haven't heard that Hosea prophecy, it does seem like this
is a case of Jesus fulfilling. A very obscure Prophecy from the
Old Testament. That not a lot of people know
about. So that's one reason why Jesus
must be in the grave, for three days.
So, it's interesting, Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen
to him. He knew how the timeline was
going to go and he hopes that his disciples would recall these
prophecies when they happened, but unfortunately, they didn't,
but the angels in the Tomb did recall this.
So if you go to Luke, Even the angels recall, this specific
prophecy that we're hearing now, verse 23 and our ships, then to
all he said. So now what he's about to say is
a message for the crowds and is going to speak quite plainly.
Not in Parables like he usually does.
He says, if anyone wants to be a follower of mine, so in that
culture was common for people to follow.
Rabbis, they'll be rabbis traveling around if there's if
one of the Jews liked what they heard from a rabbi, they could
choose to follow that. Rabbi So Jesus says, if anyone
wants to be a follower of mine, now notice that even the
language there if anyone wants to be a follower of mine and
then he goes on to say what they have to do.
So notice that implies a choice. Jesus says if you want to be a
follower of mine then you have to choose to do it, you have to
do a certain thing, it's not an automatic thing.
Jesus tells them what the conditions are.
Let him renounce himself. So renounce is a legal term,
which signifies complete disarmament Jesus.
He doesn't mean just letting go of selfishness and attachment
but it appears to mean a radical abandonment to Jesus, even being
willing to give up, one's life to give up his life.
Jesus says, let him renounce himself, take up his cross.
So the Jews would have been quite familiar with this idea of
taking up their cross. Because every day, they would
see the Romans crucifying the Jews that was quite common.
And to the do taking up your cross.
Meant making sacrifices and bearing, heavy burdens now,
interestingly, Simon of Cyrene would literally do this later.
He would take up a cross and follow Jesus, so that's in
23:26. And then look at the phrase here
that the other gospel writers don't have to take up his cross
every day so that emphasizes the importance of renewing, the
commitment to follow Jesus every single day.
Even in small matters complete abandonment to God every single
day. So probably when Jesus spoke
this originally he did say take up his cross every day.
It's just that Matthew and Mark felt that it wasn't necessary to
include that phrase but Luke kept it in there.
Jesus says, and follow me. So he says his followers must be
willing to experience suffering just as he experiences
suffering, his just told them about how the son of man has to
suffer. And now the whole point is
making his, if you want to be a disciple.
You also must suffer Justin similar to the way that he just
described. So Jesus is communicating to his
disciples, the radical demands of discipleship.
He wants them to know that it's not going to be easy, verse 35.
Jesus goes on, Anyone who wants to save his life, will lose it.
So the word life there can be interpreted different ways
because it is psyche in Greek and that can mean Soul.
So, Jesus here could be two saying, two different things.
He could be a warning against denying Jesus at the point of
death. So he says, one must literally
be willing to give up their life and become a martyr.
That could be what he means or he could be warning against
worldliness and self-protection he's saying, you need to give up
your attack. Attachments in your life, and if
you don't, that's going to lead to Eternal death.
But on the other hand, anyone who loses his life, for my sake,
and the other gospels adhere and for the sake of the Gospel.
So again, this refers to either being martyred, so choosing to
be martyred or choosing to give up, one's life and possessions.
And in fact, later in Luke, we'll hear from some teachings
of Jesus where he talks about the importance of giving up,
possessions Anyone who loses his life, for my sake.
So, Jesus is basically saying the only way to truly, preserve
your life. Is by giving up your life.
It's kind of a bit of a paradox, but that's what he's saying, you
need to give yourself away to Jesus.
So some Scholars have pointed out, that what Jesus is
requiring here is more radical even than a military General.
So a military General would say, you need to commit yourself
fully to the cause, but Jesus is basically saying you need to be
fully committed to me as a person.
So Jesus says, anyone who loses his life, for my sake.
So again that refers either to martyrdom or giving up material
possessions, and attachments, that man will save it and Jesus
here means will inherit eternal life.
For the last verse here. Jesus uses some language that's
drawn from Commerce. So you'll hear words like profit
and gain and forfeit. So Jesus says what gain then is
it for a man to have won the whole world and to a lost or
forfeited? His very self.
So that's a rhetorical question. And the answer to that question
is none, there is no gain to have won the whole world were to
Lose Yourself. So Jesus, he wants to get the
crowds to focus on Eternal things rather than Earthly. the
things he's saying that if you want to be my disciple, You
cannot be attached to Earthly things.
You need to be a focused on Eternal things.
He wants them to recognize that our life and particularly our
eternal life, and our soul is more important than anything
else. That's not to say other things
in life aren't good. So, there are lesser Goods in
life, but Jesus is saying that they should never take
precedence over your soul, the greatest good in life is to be
United to God, and he says, you should never fall for that in
exchange for a lesser good. And as Jesus says in a couple of
chapters in verse in chapter 12, he says life does not consist of
possessions. So that's a consistent teaching
of Jesus in The Gospel of Luke So, an interesting passage where
does this appear in the catechism while because of that
little phrase that Luke adds take up his cross every day,
that gets a mention in the catechism in paragraph 14. 35.
And that's in the section about the many forms of penance.
Here's what it says conversion is accomplished in Daily Life,
by gestures of reconciliation concern for the poor, the
exercise in defense of justice and right by the admission of
faults to no one's brethren Sorry to one's Brethren,
fraternal, correction revision of Life, examination, of
conscience, spiritual Direction, acceptance of suffering,
endurance of persecution, for the sake of righteousness,
taking up, one's cross each day. And following Jesus is the
surest way of pennants. So that's a really clear
teaching from the Catholic Church on how can we go about
doing Penance and making up for the sins that we've committed in
our life? So it lists a whole lot of
things reconciliation concern, for the poor admission of fault.
Someone's Brethren fraternal, correction Etc.
But he says, the catechism says, the surest way to doing Penance
is by taking up, one's cross each day and following Jesus as
he commands us here in Luke chapter 9.
That's the end of today's podcast.
I hope you learned something new and we'll see you again
tomorrow.