Living Lake or Stagnant Pond? Homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A One Catholic Life

We are given very powerful readings today,

powerful individually and powerful collectively.

And at the heart of them all is a line by St. Paul

in his letter to the Romans:

“…be transformed by the renewal of your mind,

that you may discern what is the will of God,

what is good and pleasing and perfect.”

So today we’re given three challenges:

transformation, renewal, and discernment.

First Paul says, be transformed.

This is what Jesus is trying to help Peter do in today’s Gospel.

When Jesus explains what it means to be the Messiah

— that it means suffering, death, and resurrection —

Peter rebukes him.

The fisherman rebukes the Messiah!

Peter is stuck thinking as human beings do,

not as God does.

And Peter is arrogant enough to think

that he needs to correct Jesus, the Christ.

In reality, Peter is an obstacle to Jesus.

In that moment, in fact, he’s just as much an obstacle as Satan.

But Jesus is patient with Peter,

he wants Peter to be transformed.

He wants what’s best for him. He cares for him. He loves him.

Peter has been raised to believe certain things about the Messiah,

things that don’t match with what he is hearing from Jesus.

So Jesus wants Peter to grow in his understanding

of what it means to follow him.

Jesus wants us, too, to grow in our understanding

of what it means to be a disciple.

He wants what’s best for us. He cares for us. He loves us.

We can misunderstand and distort the gospel

because of how we were raised,

or because of what we read or see on social media,

across the spectrum of ideologies.

Like Peter, we can be tempted to arrogance ourselves,

thinking we have the correct answer,

that we know what God wants,

and that everyone else needs to conform

to our way of thinking about God — even the Pope!

But when we do that,

we become obstacles to to Jesus,

thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.

And we’re not only obstacles to Jesus,

but we’re obstacles to other people’s relationship with Jesus.

So the challenge for us is to let ourselves be transformed by Christ,

just as Peter was transformed.

Think of all those whose lives were transformed by Christ:

Mary Magdalene, Matthew the tax collector, Nicodemus the Pharisee, etc.

It’s challenging to be transformed,

because transformation means change,

and change is always frightening,

It means leaving our comfort zone.

It means temporary confusion and instability

as we hover between our old self and our transformed self.

And transformation is a lifelong process,

so that means being uncomfortable over and over again.

We would much rather stay where we are than risk transformation.

There’s security in remaining where we are,

but there is also stagnation and death.

It’s the difference between being a living lake or a stagnant pond.

Lakes benefit from water constantly coming in and going out,

a steady exchange that brings life.

Lakes are blue and fresh and filled with life.

Stagnant ponds, on the other hand,

have no life, no color, and they’re filled with the stench of decay.

That’s because there is no exchange of water,

the water just sits there still and unmoving.

There is no renewal.

And that’s our second challenge,

to be transformed by the renewal of our mind.

Renewal is walking in the newness of life in Christ.

It’s a constant exchange

between ourselves and the living water of Christ.

As we prayed in today’s psalm,

“My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.”

Our soul thirst for Jesus, the living water.

Renewal is a steady drinking of the living water of Christ,