Day 320: Peter's Denial Foretold

Luke 20:1-8 Christ came to teach and not engage in a battle of wills. While he always answered sincere questions, he would not always respond to those who quizzed him with cynicism or with the intent of trapping him by his own words. To those who asked questions out of ill intent, he answered with a question that his interrogators could not answer. (CCC 582)

Ch 20:9-19 The Parable of the Wicked Tenants is a clear allegory of salvation history in which the vineyard owner is God, the tenants are the Jews of the Old Covenant, and the servants are God’s prophets, who were sent to the tenants but rejected. After the owner’s son himself is killed, the Father unleashes his judgment. The parable was a warning originally aimed at the Jewish leaders and to anyone rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. The rejection of Christ results in the loss of moral and spiritual health and true happiness. (CCC 587) 

Ch 20:17-18 Christ quoted Psalm 118:22 and applied it to himself. He is the rejected cornerstone who became the foundation of a new Temple, the Church of the New Covenant. He then alluded to the prophets Isaiah, who called the Lord a stumbling block, and Daniel, who had a vision of God annihilating earthly kingdoms with a large stone and establishing his own kingdom instead (cf. Is 8:14-15; Dn 2:44-45). (CCC 587, 756)

Ch 20:20-26 The Caesars in the Roman Empire presented themselves as gods and required worship from their subjects. Coins were minted displaying an image of the Caesar under whose reign they were produced. The Jewish authorities laid a trap for Christ: if he were to reply that Jews must pay the tax, they could turn people against Jesus by spreading the word that he supported Caesar or that he did not support Israel’s independence, but if he were to say that Jews should not pay the tax, the Jewish authorities could report to the Romans that he was a revolutionary. Instead, Christ’s response simultaneously supported the obligation to pay the tax and yet drew a clear distinction between the obligations to Caesar and God. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” even today provides the foundation for reconciling the obligation of the faithful to serve and respect both Church and state. The social teaching of the Church emphasizes the legitimacy and limits of civil authority, the proper relationship between the individual and society, the primacy of the common good, and the dignity of every human person. (CCC 2409, 2444-2446, 2254-2256, 2420-2425)

Ch 20:27-47 This question about marriage is another obvious attempt to entrap Christ. In Heaven, the earthly circumstances closely linked to marriage no longer exist. 

Ch 20:37-38 On the question of the resurrection of the dead, the Pharisees held the true doctrine, and Christ faulted the Sadducees for their denial of the truth. Since God referred to himself as the Lord of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the present tense, it is to be understood that these patriarchs must still be living beyond their earthly deaths. (CCC 205)

Ch 21:1-4 The story of the widow’s gift to the treasury reminds us that it is not the size of the gift that matters but our willingness to give everything we have to God. This kind of faith-filled generosity is necessary to be an effective witness that Christ is the ultimate meaning of our lives. (CCC 2544)

Ch 21:5-36 The disciples’ admiration for the Temple provided an occasion for Christ to predict once again the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple at the hands of the Romans. Many hardships would await the present generation, including false prophets and natural catastrophes. For those who remain faithful, hatred, betrayal, persecution, and even death will be their destiny; however, they will be assisted and strengthened by Christ, who will provide them with the necessary wisdom in their time of trial. The imagery offers a foretaste of another event, the Second Coming of Christ, which will also be accompanied by signs and will culminate in the Final Judgment. Despite the signs, no one knows the precise moment of the end of the world, so we must stand ready at all times by striving to lead a life of prayer and charity. (CCC 2612)

Ch 21:8 Many will come in my name: Historians note that numerous false prophets around the first century claimed to be the Messiah, nearly all of them revolutionaries promising political liberation from the Romans. False prophets who knowingly teach error and lead others astray commit sins against justice and charity. (CCC 2485)

Ch 21:12 Christ reminded his disciples that persecution would be their lot and of the final trial that the Church must suffer before he comes again. (CCC 675, 852)

Ch 21:24 Here Christ used descriptive language from several Old Testament accounts of previous occasions when Jerusalem had been destroyed. 

Times of the Gentiles: God would allow Gentile powers (the Romans) to vanquish Israel and establish their dominion. (CCC 58, 674)

Ch 21:27 They will see the Son of man...great glory: The image applies both to the establishment of the New Covenant and to the Second Coming. Christ’s kingdom will go through hardship and suffer persecution while it reaches its perfection at the end of time. (CCC 671, 697)

Ch 21:33 Heaven and earth...not pass away: This refers to all of creation. God’s Word will always be applicable to the particular situation of every individual in every culture and in every time period. (CCC 326, 1994)

CH 22:1-6 The “opportune time” that the Devil had been seeking to destroy Christ since his failed temptations in the desert (cf. Lk 4:13) included the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot. It was an opportune time as well for the enemies of Christ, who were seeking a way to get rid of him. (CCC 538)

Ch 22:1 Feast of Unleavened Bread: The first day of the Jewish Passover, which commemorated Israel’s freedom from Egypt, was called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For the next six days of this feast, only bread prepared without yeast would be consumed by faithful Jews. The faithful of the Church are called to be “leaven in the world” whose word and example influences society for the better (cf. 1 Cor 5:7-8). (CCC 854, 929, 940)

Ch 22:3 Satan entered into Judas: Ultimately, it was the Devil who would prompt him to betray Christ to the Jewish authorities. (CCC 2852)

Ch 22:7-20 The Passover meal required ritual preparation of various foods. The feast recalled their freedom from slavery in Egypt, when God had asked Israelite households to sacrifice a spotless lamb and mark their lintels and doorposts with its blood so that the tenth plague, the killing of the firstborn, would not affect them, i.e., the Angel of Death would pass over them. God had instructed them to observe the Passover annually in commemoration of this great event (cf. Ex 12:3-28). At the Last Supper, Christ transformed the Passover feast into the Sacrifice of his own Body and Blood for the salvation of humanity. In the New Covenant, Christ himself is the Paschal Lamb who is sacrificed. It was here at the Last Supper that he instituted the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Holy Orders. (CCC 1151, 1339-1340)

Ch 22:15-18 Christ longed to fulfill his Father’s will and to bring about the redemption of humanity. In establishing the Eucharist, he pointed to the eternal banquet in the Kingdom of God, where the Passover would find its ultimate fulfillment. The liturgy celebrated by the Church is a reflection and sharing in the heavenly liturgy. (CCC 607, 1130, 1402-1403)

Ch 22:17 He took a chalice: The Passover meal included the ritual sharing of the four cups of wine. The cup referred to here is probably the third cup, the cup of blessing. (CCC 1334, 1396)

Ch 22:19 Given thanks: A form of the Greek eucharisteo is used here; the Sacrament of the Eucharist is, in essence, the Sacrament of Thanksgiving. 

Broke it: Early Christians commonly referred to the Eucharist as the “breaking of the bread.”

This is my body: The bread of the Eucharist becomes the true Body of Christ, and the wine of the Eucharist becomes his true Blood. This act is called the consecration, and the term describing the change is called transubstantiation, which signifies that the substance of the bread and wine is changed into the Body and Blood of Christ even though the accidents, or appearances, of bread and wine remain the same and, in fact, retain the same physical and molecular qualities they had prior to the consecration. As St. Thomas Aquinas taught, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist “cannot be apprehended by the senses, but only by faith, which relies on divine authority.” (STh III, 75, 1). 

Do this in remembrance of me: Christ entrusted his Apostles with the celebration of the Eucharist to perpetuate the Sacrifice of the Cross throughout the world until he comes again. This event essentially marked their ordination as priests and instituted the  Sacrament of Holy Orders. The very words of Christ in instituting the Eucharist attest to its sacrificial character. (CCC 610-611, 621. 1322-1329, 1365-1366, 1374-1381)

Ch 22:20 Christ offered the cup of the New Covenant at the Last Supper and afterward accepted the cup of suffering from the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. (CCC 612)

Ch 22:21-30 Christ did not directly identify his betrayer, leading the Apostles to speculate over his identification. A discussion then began about which of them is the greatest Apostle. While all would have places of honor at the heavenly banquet, their mission was not one of being honored but of serving others with selfless concern according to the example of Christ. The successors of the Apostles, the bishops of the Church, although they govern with authority, are to do so in a spirit of service. (CCC 551, 787, 894-896)

Ch 22:30 Sit on thrones: The Apostles represent the twelve tribes of Israel; they are the foundation stones of the Church, the New Jerusalem. (CCC 551, 765)

Ch 22:21-34 The events that unfolded in Jerusalem tested the faith of the Apostles. The influence of Satan affected not just Judas, who betrayed Christ, but Simon Peter as well, who would deny even knowing Christ. Aware of this, Christ prayed specifically for Peter’s fidelity. As the “rock” of the Church Christ founded, Peter and his successors in the papacy enjoy a special strength and grace from Christ as they carry on their work as the Vicar of Christ on earth. They, above all, are responsible for guarding and teaching the contents of the Faith as well as serving as the focal point of unity in the Church. As the First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican declared, “The See of Peter always remained unstained by all error, according to the divine promise that our Savior made to the chief of his disciples” (Pastor Aeternus, 3). This assertion also takes into account other evidence from Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, including the statements of Christ to Peter when, at Caesarea Philippi, he pronounced that Peter would be the rock of his Church, against which “the powers of death shall not prevail” (Mt 16:18).

Ch 22:35-38 Christ’s quote is from Isaiah’s prophecy about the Suffering Servant (cf. Is 53:12). The response of the Apostles, in taking Christ’s comments about swords literally, reveals once again that they failed to understand his mission. 

It is enough: The Kingdom of God will not be established by violence as evidenced by Christ’s later response to a disciples use of a sword during his arrest (cf. Lk 22:49-51). (CCC 623)

Proverbs 26:18-19 Rather than harmless practical jokes, this proverb indicates a deception or trick that causes pain, inconvenience, offense, or hardship. The act of hurting or embarrassing someone with a lie or joke can do a lot of damage to personal relationships and even to reputations. Paul warned against such behaviors when he advised the Ephesians to avoid “silly talk” and “levity, which are not fitting” (cf. Eph 5:4). (CCC 2479-2481)

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

The Passover 

• Jesus chooses the time of the Passover (Lk 22:1) as the moment in which to come to Jerusalem and die for his people. 

• During the Passover feast, the people were to eat unleavened bread, remembering the Israelites’ hurried flight from Egypt, and they were to kill and eat an unblemished, male lamb, recalling the sacrificed lambs whose blood protected Israel’s firstborns from death. 

• The Passover was the greatest feast celebrated in Israel, as it commemorated the most important event in the history of Israel, the Exodus (Ex 12). 

• Jesus takes on the meaning of this feast and transforms it into something even greater. Jesus, the “Lamb of God” as John the Baptist proclaimed (Jn 1:36), offers himself as the new Passover lamb of his new Exodus. 

• He who is the “Bread of Life” (Jn 6:48) offers the bread and wine of the Passover, transforming them into his Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:28). 

• As Moses lifted up the serpent to free rebellious Israel from the bite of the adder, so the Son of Man will be lifted up on the cross (Jn 3:14) to deliver the rebellious human race from their fall to the serpent’s temptation in the Garden of Eden. 

• Just as the sacrifice and blood of the lamb set Israel free from Egyptian bondage, so will Jesus conquer sin and death and free all mankind from the shackles of sin. 

• On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus celebrates his Last Supper with his apostles. 

• During the meal Jesus gives thanks to God (Mt 26:27). 

• Even before his suffering and death, Jesus offers thanksgiving, trusting in the Father for his deliverance from death, a deliverance that will come mightily in the resurrection. 

• This first Eucharist, and Jesus’ passion, is re-presented in each Mass, where Christians are called to join the offering of their own lives to Christ’s offering and to give thanks for their deliverance from sin. 

• Just as the manna in the desert sustained the Israelites during their wilderness wanderings, so the bread of Christ’s Body in the Eucharist sustains Christians as they journey to the Promised Land of heaven.

(*Walking With God: A Journey Through The Bible By Tim Gray and Jeff Cavins)

• We only have this day and tomorrow for the Gospel of Luke

• Then we launch into the last age

• The Church!!

• Now, essentially

• We will conclude the Gospel of Luke tomorrow

• A lot of you have good reasons to not subscribe to this podcast

• If everyone who listened today and went and gave the podcast a 5 star review, what would happen is it would bump back to higher than top five

• Because sometimes they look at the algorithm and see not only how many downloads there are, but how many people are reviewing it

• Might be a little fun thing to do for the Lord

• You don’t have to

• This is for you

• This is for the Lord! 

• Sometimes, as you know after 320 DAYS, there are some Proverbs that just...get ya

• So here’s a couple of em

• Proverbs 26:17, “He who meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.”

• YES!!

• MIND YA OWN BUSINESS!!

• You don’t know if this dog is a killer

• Maybe the dog is going to do some destruction

• Yow have no idea

• The OTHER ONE though

• This is SO GOOD!!

• MAN!! (OH MAN!!)

• Proverbs 26:18-19, “Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, ‘I am only joking!’”

• OH MY GOSH!!

• HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!!

• HOW ACCURATE IS THAT??

• You’d think here in the Book of Proverbs, written all the way back you know, maybe in the time of Solomon

• And you think, “Holy Smokes! We still do that! We do that all the time!”

• I say something to mess with someone then just say, “Ah I'm only kidding!”

• There are some things that are funny

• And there are some things that are not funny

• One of our tasks in maturing and growing is getting to that place where we realize what was funny for me was definitely not funny and should not have been said or done

• All that being said…

• Here is the Gospel of Luke

• We are getting closer and closer to the end of the Gospel

• Jesus giving up his entire self for us

• One of the things that is really SO POWERFUL…

• We love not only all of the Gospel of Luke

• But we also have The Widow’s Offering at the beginning of Luke Ch 21

• Here she is and she puts in two small copper coins

• A couple cents, a couple pennies

• BUT…

• Jesus praises that because he highlights the fact that it’s NOT necessarily how much we give it’s how much we LOVE

• God doesn’t judge the size of our gift as much as it is the size of our HEART

• The size of the HEART that is offering the gift

• We know so much about FIRST FRUITS

• Fr. Mike also preached about here we are to give God our FIRST FRUITS

• OUR FIRST 10 %

• OUR TIME

• OUR TALENT

• OUR TREASURE

• BUT…

• God highlights in these words about this woman who actually did this in Ch 21 that we are also called to give God our FINAL FRUITS

• Our WHOLE LIVES are meant to be HIS

• How can I do that?

• How can I make myself an entire gift to him, especially when I have so little to offer?

• AND YET…

• We do that when we give him our interruptions

• We do that when we give him “passive mortifications”

• ACTIVE MORTIFICATIONS are the ones we choose to do as sacrifice

• TITHE

• FAST

• PRAY

• Choosing to do these things that cause me to “die a little bit.”

• PASSIVE MORTIFICATIONS are when we accept the PENANCES that chose us

• Think of those as interruptions

• Or the things we didn’t choose

• Both of them can purify us

• It seems like First Fruits is good

• The ACTIVE MORTIFICATION that we plan out and choose does so much to purify our hearts

• But then so does our PASSIVE PURIFICATIONS that do so much to purify our hearts

• “OK LORD I’M JUST GOING TO COOPERATE WITH YOU!!”

• Here’s the last thing

• There is a prayer at the end of Luke or kind of the middle of Luke Ch 22

• Jesus turns to Peter and says in Luke 22:31-32, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.”

• THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!!

• We don’t get it in English

• But it is true in the ORIGINAL GREEK

• “Simon, Simon, Satan demanded to have YOU ALL…”

• In GREEK, it is PLURAL

• HAVE YOU ALL

• ALL THE DISCIPLES

• ALL THE APOSTLES

• “That he might sift ALL of you like wheat…”

• PLURAL

• Then in the next verse, Jesus goes to SINGULAR

• “But I have prayed for YOU, Peter (singular), that YOUR faith (singular) may not fail and when you (singular) have returned again, strengthen your brethren.”

• There is something so INCREDIBLE about this fact that Jesus predicts Simon’s betrayal

• He predicts Peter’s failure

• “Yeah, Satan wants the whole thing. Satan wants all of you.”

• THAT’S THE TRUTH

• Y’all, we have an ENEMY

• The ENEMY desires ALL OF US get taken out

• He desires that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US has our faith stolen 

• He desires to destroy EVERY OUNCE OF LOVE we have for eachother and EVERY OUNCE OF LOVE we have for God in our hearts

• He desires nothing more than to STEAL, KILL, and DESTROY ALL OF US

• And then…

• Jesus goes on to say, “But I have prayed for YOU (singular), Peter…”

• This is the role of the AL HABAYIT

• This is the role of the FIRST POPE 

• This is the role of the POPE NOW

• In this case in particular, in Luke Ch 22, it was the role of the FIRST POPE, PETER

• “But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail when you’ve turned again, when you have come back to me, strengthen your brethren.”

• Think about how incredible it would be to be Peter

• In the midst of all this trial, danger, and failure, YOU CAN TRUST JESUS

• “How do you know, because I betrayed him. The night my best friend in the world needed me, I denied even knowing him. So you want a witness to mercy? There it is right there. Do you want a witness to what is it like to lean into love and to let yourself be loved in the midst of failure? There it is right there. It’s not a claim to being impeccable. It’s not a claim to sinlessness.”

• Simon Peter can never CLAIM that he was SO GOOD that God loved  him

• “Why do I have the scroll? Because I’m so holy.”

• No…

• He can only claim GOD’S GRACE

• He can ONLY claim that when he was at his WEAKEST and at his LOWEST God was there for him

• “He said he prayed for ME specifically so that when I came back to his heart, I could strengthen my brethren.”

• AND THIS IS THE TRUTH FOR YOU RIGHT NOW

• RIGHT NOW!!

• FOR ALL OF US!!

• Our lives will be marked with disaster

• There may even be public scandal or public sin that is part of your story

• BUT HERE IS JESUS!!

• And I invite you to hear the words of Jesus to that FIRST POPE as WORDS TO YOU

• “I’m praying for you that when you have turned back…”

• Even in the midst of PUBLIC DISASTER

• Even in the midst of PUBLIC SIN

• Even in the midst of PUBLIC SCANDAL

• “...strengthen your brethren. Let them know that my mercy is without end and that I STILL LOVE THEM.”

• Because right now, even if you are at the bottom and in the gutter and it is all your fault

• Even if you have these wounds and they’re self-inflicted

• The truth of the matter is HERE IS JESUS PRAYING FOR YOU

• “I’M PRAYING FOR YOU. COME BACK. TRUST IN MY LOVE. TRUST IN MY MERCY. TRUST IN ME.”

• FR. MIKE IS PRAYING FOR YOU

• PRAY FOR FR. MIKE

• So when that day comes, that we can turn back to the Lord and strengthen each other

• Tomorrow is our final day of Luke’s Gospel

• PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for your Word. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to walk with Jesus, as he gets closer and closer to entering into his Passion. Lord, thank you for letting us hear the true value of things, the true value of everything that is surrendered to you. The true value of when we give not only our first fruits, but our final fruits, and place them into your hands. Help us to be watchful, help us to be aware, help us to be awake, help us not to become drowsy, or to fall into the trap of just thinking or believing that this life will just keep going on endlessly. But help us to be vigilant. Help us to be awake. Help us to watch for you this day and every day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”