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

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,
and then allowing it to flow out of ourselves
to others in the world around us,
through conversation, generosity, kindness, genuine relationship.
It is a constant flow, back and forth,
that sustains us in the life of the Spirit.

Today we are challenged to ask ourselves,
How regularly are we drinking from the well of the living water of Christ?
How open are we to the flow of the Holy Spirit within us and through us?
Are we making time each day to be with and aware of God,
making sure we are listening and not just speaking?
Or have we become stagnant in our faith?
Renewal is a constant process,
a steady exchange between ourselves, the Holy Spirit,
and the world around us.
It is a lifelong task, as we can see from the life of St. Peter.

Peter was constantly in need of transformation and renewal.
We’ve already seen that in today’s gospel.
Later, in the Acts of the Apostles, after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension,
Peter needs transformation and renewal again.
The question comes up
about whether the Gentiles need to be circumcised
in order to be disciples.
Peter thinks that they do,
but through a gathering of Church leaders at the Council of Jerusalem,
by listening to St. Paul, and especially by listening to the Holy Spirit,
Peter comes to a renewed understanding of God’s will,
and he was better able to discern what was “good, pleasing, and perfect.”

We see this kind of renewal and transformation in the Church
through gatherings like the Second Vatican Council
and the current Synod gathering about to take place in October.
Gatherings like these open the Church to the working of the Holy Spirit,
and make transformation and renewal possible
so that, like St. Peter, the Church can discern God’s will.

And discernment is the third challenge we hear
from Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Peter was able to discern the will of God about the Gentiles
because he was transformed by the renewal of his mind.
Paul, too, underwent tremendous transformation and renewal
after encountering Christ on the road to Damascus.
Paul went from persecuting Christians
to becoming one of Christianity’s greatest evangelizers.
At first, Paul was an obstacle to faith
who thought he had it all figured out.
He needed transformation and renewal
in order to better discern God’s will for him and for God’s people.

So often we think we know what God wants
before we do the necessary work of transformation and renewal.
Peter rebuked Jesus, Paul persecuted Christians.

There is a lot of rebuking and persecuting going on today,
and precious little discernment.
We have become obstacles to Christ
by our lack of transformation and renewal.

Today we are challenged to examine our lives,
looking for those places where we are stagnant,
and where we think like human beings, rather than God.

We are blessed to have St. Peter as our parish patron.
Not only for the times he got things right,
but also for the times he got things wrong.
Like Peter, we don’t always get it right.
Like Peter, we are sometimes obstacles to Jesus.
But, like Peter, we can change.
We can be transformed and renewed.
Each time we enter this church,
we need to remember our need for renewal,
our call to be transformed.
And we can also remember
that Jesus is patient with us,
as he was with Peter.
Jesus offers us living water for our thirsty souls,
transforming us from stagnant ponds into living lakes,
and renewing us in mind,
so we can better discern God’s will,
what is good, pleasing and perfect.

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