Predigt bei der Informationsreise nach Griechenland und in die Türkei

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 (Jer 20:7-9)

You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped;
you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.
All the day I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me.
Whenever I speak, I must cry out,
violence and outrage is my message;
the word of the LORD has brought me
derision and reproach all the day.
I say to myself, I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more.
But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.

Reading 2 (Rom 12:1-2)

I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God,
to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.
Do not conform yourselves to this age
but 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.

 Gospel (Mt 16:21-27)

Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
"God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you."
He turned and said to Peter,
"Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."
Then Jesus said to his disciples,
"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct."

Homily by H.E. Archbishop Dr Stefan Heße on 3 September 2023 in Izmir (Turkey)

“Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” – this is what the author of the Letter to the Romans just said to us. Originally, he was probably concerned about the Romans renouncing pagan thinking. But also our thinking as Christians today needs permanent renewal and deepening. Our thinking should adapt itself more and more to God’s thinking and become more in line with Him.

The other two readings of this Sunday take up this thought as well: Jeremiah is faced with the great question of how to think of God, how to interpret his deeds. The prophet Jeremiah has to learn that he always has new experiences with God. He cannot stop at the old way of thinking, but must allow himself to be led into the vastness of God’s thinking. And in the Gospel it is Saint Peter. He has his ideas about the Son of God. He knows how God should function and act. But God is different and therefore Peter has to learn to think of him differently and in a completely new way.

If Jeremiah, one of the greatest prophets, and Peter, the spokesman of the Apostles, need to renew their thinking, how much more do we need to do so! Among the experiences I was allowed to have in faith is that my thinking of God, of man, of the Church is constantly renewed and hence deepened in the course of life.

A new way of thinking about God: God is the Almighty, the Great, the Transcendent, the One who surpasses everything. But as Christians we also believe that this God becomes human and goes all the way down into powerlessness. We have to believe and endure a powerless God – again and again.

A new way of thinking about people: We like to put ourselves in the center. We tend to relate anything and everything to us or to deduce it from us. But our faith puts the other in the center and he or she is the reference point of everything.

During my travels – whether now in Greece and Turkey or elsewhere – I meet many refugees. They are just one example of people who need to be placed in the center today. (As Pope Francis once put in in his Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees: “In every political activity, in every programme, in every pastoral action we must always put the person at the center, in his or her many aspects, including the spiritual dimension. And this applies to all people, whose fundamental equality must be recognized.”)

A new way of thinking about the Church: For a long time we have been thinking that the Church knows everything and instructs people where to go on life’s journey. Soon the Synod of Bishops will begin in Rome. Pope Francis wants to encourage the Church to think in a new way. We will only arrive at solutions by working together. We are not only those who have something to say and to offer to the people, but we can learn much more from them and we should be very attentive.

So: Let us renew our thinking and let ourselves be transformed by it. Amen.