Concerns Of God VS Human Concerns

Written by Rev. Fr. Orly Mendoza | 06 September 2012

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
(Green) Cycle B, Year II (September 16, 2012)
Is 50:5-9/Jas 2:14-18/Mk 8:27-35

When Jesus Christ asked His disciples who He was, Peter was the only one to give the correct and precise answer saying that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. Then Jesus praised Peter because such answer came not from Him but from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Then He told His disciples how He would suffer and die in the hands of the Scribes and Pharisees. Peter rebuked Him, hoping that the words of Jesus would not be fulfilled. It was then that Christ scolded Peter and said to him: "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns" (Mk 8:33b).

Most probably, Peter did not understand why Jesus scolded him. Surely, he was simply praying that the worst things that Jesus was predicting to happen to Himself might not occur. He only had the good intention of protecting his Master from all that could harm Him. He was simply concerned for the life of his Lord. But then Jesus reprimanded him, even calling him "Satan". How could Peter be an evil doer when he simply wanted the good of his Master?

As rational animals, we always want to know and understand things around us. But as material beings, we are limited by our physical capacity and thus, there are things that we simply do not comprehend. Like Peter, we only desire the good of other people, the success of our nation, and the realization of our dreams. And so we pray a lot to our Lord Jesus Christ that these, our desires, may happen the way we want them to be. Then we are confused and saddened that after our hours, days and years of faithful prayers and of dedicated hard works, nothing of our aspirations is realized. We may wonder about it; we may even doubt the love and faithfulness of God to us. But then let us follow how Peter behaved in front of Jesus. He did not respond to Jesus' harsh words to Him. He did not understand well the words of Jesus and because of this; he simply listened to Jesus and contemplated on His words: "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

Truly, Peter's intention and ours are good. Such intentions, however, may not be according to the plan of God. What is important and truly good are not our plan and intention but rather the plan and intention of God. Being human, Peter and we only have human concerns which are far from the concerns of Jesus which are divine. Our comprehension is limited, God's is eternal. Our desire for goodness is defective, God's is perfect. This is how we should understand why some of our prayers are not answered according to our desires. They are always answered by God according to His plan because He has a better plan for us; plan that is for our own good.

Let us then examine our daily concerns. We want a good job. We pray for the health of our family. We desire that our endeavours or business may succeed. These are all good. But this is not the question since as human beings we ought only to desire what is good. The question rather is, are these desires, concerns, or plans of God? As Christians, what is important is that we unite ourselves to God by faithfully living the teachings of Christ and by following the will of God. Are our concerns human or divine? We can only be assured to be in communion with the concerns of God if we are always faithful to Christ in thought, words and deeds.