To judge by God's standards

Liturgical readings


Isaiah 50:4c-9a
Psalm 116
James 2:14-18
Mark 8:27-35

"Judge by God's standards, not by man's."


When Peter declared that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus took the opportunity to teach them what this meant - in relation to Himself, and to Peter and his companions. It was a difficult teaching that Peter's limited understanding took hold of him, and made him dissuade Jesus from the terrible fate of the Cross. Jesus, understanding God's will, rebuked Peter, and took occasion to teach everyone within hearing about self-denial, the cross, Christian discipleship, and life itself. All the truths that Christ taught on that occasion is in our Christian faith - often heard during the liturgical season of Lent. These truths that Jesus emphasized become more real for us whenever we find ourselves in a situation of adversity.


Going back to the gospel passage, we will see that Peter appeared to have missed hearing the end of Jesus' explanation: "...and to rise three days later." Suffering, rejection and death from Jesus' first words struck Peter's attention, that he missed listening to what would happen after all that. Humanly speaking, it can happen to us too. Perhaps not in the same way as Peter's but similar, according to how we are overwhelmed by a series of negative, death-related events. Like Peter, we get absorbed by the bad appearance and forget to "listen" to the good God can still do. We must avoid judging on human standards alone.


God became man in Jesus to show us that human suffering and death is not the end. By His resurrection, He showed a path to love, hope and life. We understand all human pain and death from this perspective of Christ conquering death. Jesus has created a new standard above our ordinary way of seeing and understanding. It is a noble standard. We are reminded of this noble standard every time we celebrate the Eucharist. In communion, when we receive the Body of Christ, our lives are elevated to the standard of Christ's Life. This is the reason why we revere much the image of the Crucified Jesus. Although our physical sight sees suffering, by prayer and the gift of faith, we know that God sent His Son Jesus to elevate our human understanding to God's standards.