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In calling people to change their ways, one may use a carrot or a stick – reward or punishment. In today’s Gospel (Mark 9:38-43; 45, 47-48) one might say that Jesus chooses the stick when he speaks of the fires of Gehenna, a place that was feared and reviled by the residents of Jerusalem for centuries. It was viewed as a cursed place, the closest thing to hell one might imagine. It was in Gehenna where ancient peoples practiced the human sacrifice of children to appease pagan deities. To show their utter disdain for Gehenna and the evils that happened there, it eventually became a landfill where the populace of Jerusalem dumped their garbage which was then burned. The fires would burn constantly day and night as the smoke and horrible odors would waft over the countryside.

Most people today like success. Almost daily, through a wide variety of media, our attention is often drawn to those who are the wealthiest, the most powerful, the most beautiful, the most fashionable, and even to athletes and teams with the most wins. Their activities grab the headlines or the lead story on the evening news; their photos appear regularly in the social media, and their lives can dominate our conversations. At times we may desire what they appear to have - fame and fortune. We can begin to use these ideas of “success” as a standard for our own vision of what it means to be “successful.”

As Catholics, we usually think of Peter as the saint, the first Pope, the one whom Jesus entrusted with the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, the rock on whom the Church was built. The basilica that bears his name sits at the center of Rome, in Vatican City. Yet, Scripture passages such as today's gospel show us a more headstrong and human side of Peter, one who was far from a perfect disciple. In today's gospel passage, Peter could not accept the fate Jesus foretold for himself. In fact, Peter rebuked Jesus when he predicted he would suffer and die. Peter, like countless others, was expecting a Messiah who would be a powerful religious and military leader, who would rise up, unite the people, and overthrow the yoke of Roman occupation. He was not expecting a Messiah who would willingly surrender his own life
be subjected to a shameful passion and death.

In our First Reading today (Isaiah 35:4-7a), Isaiah offers a prophecy of restoration. Written around the year 700 BC, some people see this prophecy as describing what will happen to the Jewish people after the Babylonian Exile which began about 589 BC. The Babylonian army under King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered the land of Judah and many of its inhabitants were taken as captives to Babylon where they would remain for nearly 70 years. The Jewish people would one day look back upon this humiliating defeat and period of captivity as God’s just punishment for their sins as a people. But Isaiah offers them hope through his prophecy of restoring Israel to its former glory and allowing it to be fruitful again, once they had been chastened for their sinfulness by the Exile. Other scholars would see the words recorded by Isaiah as being a prophecy that would be fulfilled in Jesus several hundred years later. To the Jews in exile, Isaiah said the glory of God and his blessings would be revealed through miraculous signs such as the blind having their sight restored and the mute being able to speak. Isaiah’s prophecy speaks of God coming to the people and offering them “vindication”- freedom from the punishment imposed by the exile.