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.