Suffering and Glory

This Sunday is traditionally called Palm Sunday as it is the Sunday Jesus enters Jerusalem to the crowds waving palm branches a week before his crucifixion. This celebration followed by the humiliation of the cross reminds us of the difficulty that many have in understanding the Christian faith. In our passage, we see the same struggle in Peter and the apostles to understand the necessity of Jesus' death. Following Peter's magisterial confession that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:12-20), he then immediately rebukes the Lord for saying that he must suffer and die and then be raised from the dead. In this exchange between Peter and Jesus, we see that the only way to understand Jesus and his mission is to see the necessity of the cross. Take time before Sunday to ask God for increasing wisdom to grasp the importance of his suffering and how it leads to his glory. Ask God for grace to walk the same road as we follow him.