Jeremiah 20:7-9 / Romans 12:1-2 / Matthew 16:21-27
Whenever we reflect about life and its meaning, there will be a question to think about.
That question is this: In life what is my destiny?
That is not an easy question to answer, as the word destiny is a deep word that has various shades of meaning.
Generally speaking, destiny can mean that there is a series of events that will happen to a person or group persons.
These events have a purpose that is directed towards an objective, or a goal.
It is not about foretelling or predicting the future.
Rather, it is more like how the events unfold in life, and the choices we make along the way.
And this is where the difficult part comes in.
How do we know what is our destiny? How will our choices affect our destiny?
Life is a mystery, and the future is also a mystery.
But the present requires us to make a choice for our destiny.
In the gospel, Jesus began to make it clear to His disciples that He was destined to go up to Jerusalem and to suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day.
For the disciples, it was certainly difficult to understand what Jesus meant by that.
While the disciples are wondering about the meaning of what Jesus said, Peter decided to do something.
He began to remonstrate with Jesus. He wanted to disagree and to even forcefully protest against what Jesus said about His destiny.
For whatever reason Peter did it, in turn he got rebuked severely by Jesus and was even called “Satan”.
Peter would have been stunned into dumbfounded silence by that strong reaction from Jesus.
But that only goes to show how clear and convicted Jesus is about His destiny.
Jesus knew who He is, and what His mission is.
As His life unfolds in the events of His ministry, His destiny also became clearer and clearer.
So, when Jesus spoke of His destiny to His disciples, He wasn't just day-dreaming or speculating.
He chose to accept what He could see coming before Him, and that is the Cross.
He had to make the decision to accept the Cross, or to avoid it.
It was a choice He had to make every day up to that moment in the garden of Gethsemane.
In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was tempted to avoid the Cross when He asked the Father if it is possible to let the cup of suffering pass Him by.
But in the end, Jesus still submitted to the Father's will and went on ahead to face His suffering and the Cross.
As disciples of Jesus, we too will have to face our cross if we want to follow Jesus.
The cross would mean troubles and distress and tribulations; it would also mean suffering and sacrifice.
But Jesus has shown us that when we accept the cross like He did, we will be heading towards a meaningful destiny.
Also, our sufferings in this world cannot be compared to the eternal glory that is promised to us by Jesus.
Let us put our faith and trust in Jesus, accept our cross, and look towards that beautiful destiny with Jesus.