Today's Gospel reading marks the first prophecy of the Passion of Jesus. Peter's confession that Jesus is the Messiah was rebuked and he resembled Satan in conceiving the role of the Messiah in terms of glory without the need to suffer. How often do we fail to accept that the passion is essential to the mission of the obedient Son and Servant-Messiah. Generally we are terrified of pain, wanting to avoid it at all costs as though suffering and death are always evil and can never be willed by God. Here, we are reminded that "the ways of God are not the ways of men" (Is. 55).

If we accept this, the practical dimension explained by Jesus is the need to be critical of people who "kowtow" or honour the rich and despise the poor. In Mt. 5:3 and Lk. 6:20, Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor". Look at our society today, who are the ones who become rich because of the exploitation of the poor - as individuals, corporations and nations? We have to be critical and not make a distinction between people on the basis of social status. A violation of the Law of God to love our neighbours regardless of race, creed or religion makes us trangressors of the whole of God's law (James 2:10-13).