The Spice of Life

Learning what it means to carry our cross behind Christ

09/15/2024

Mk 8:27-35 Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" They said in reply, "John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets." And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said to him in reply, "You are the Christ." Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "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 and that of the gospel will save it."

When people first meet me, they are surprised how American I am. I don’t have a thick Indian accent, I don’t have a dot on my forehead, and I cannot even criss-cross applesauce my legs and sit Indian-style on the floor. My brother likes to say that we are basically like Oreo cookies because we are brown on the outside and white on the inside. The only thing Indian about me is this deep island tan I still have.

But one thing I am beginning to rediscover and slowly reintegrate from my Indian culture is a love for spicy food. I grew up in Little Rock, and like most kids my age my favorite foods were pizza, hamburgers, and hotdogs, and the spiciest thing on my plate was the relish for my hotdog. I turned my nose up at the spicy Indian food my mom and dad prepared at home. Why? Well, the spicy food made me sweat, and would give me hiccups, which were very embarrassing for a self-conscious teenager.

But now I have learned to appreciate the spicy food my mom and dad still cook. The sweat and hiccups signal that my taste buds have grown up and matured and I can finally judge truly good food. Msgr. Scott Friend, who loves spicy Mexican food, once said, “A good chili pepper burns you twice.” I don’t know what exactly he meant by that; maybe someone can explain it after Mass. In any case, sometimes spicy Indian food can cause some discomfort, but that is when you can truly appreciate an Indian delicacy.

In the gospel today, Jesus also discusses the discomfort of following him, that is, some sweat equity, some suffering will be required of his disciples. He tells the crowds, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” But notice Peter’s reaction a few verses earlier when Jesus says that he himself will be an example of suffering.

We read: “Then Peter took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him.” In a sense, Peter had an adolescent palate and only wanted the “comfort food” of Christianity, but nothing too spicy that might make him sweat and suffer. In a sense, Peter wanted to be a Christian Oreo: look like Jesus on the outside, but still be worldly and sinful on the inside. He was too immature for the spices and suffering of the truly Christian life.

Let me give you three examples of the spice and suffering that are required for following Christ fully. Our 4th grade teacher, Josey Rowe, shared this experience from last week. She said, “I could tell my students rushed through their religion work so I asked them if they thought they did their best work. They all insisted that they did.

Then I asked, “Would you be proud to show Father John this work?” And they all nodded yes at first, but then paused and Mac said, “Wait. Not Father John!” And they pulled their religion books back out and kept working.” In other words, Fr. John was the “spicy ingredient” that Josey added to her religion class to create a little sweat equity in her students.

Another spice in Christian cooking that causes some sweating is the memory of our past sins. Do you still remember your past sins? Frequently people ask my advice about what to do about the memory of past mistakes they cannot manage to forget. They say they try to erase that memory and even confess those sins several times, but all to no avail.

I suggest that instead of forgetting them, they should embrace those memories as part of the penance for that sin. That is, don’t try to forget it but rather accept it and even sit with it and mull it over, even though it causes pain, embarrassment, and regret. Like the ancient Buddhist maxim, “My enemy, my teacher.’ In other words, a painful memory can be like a spiritually spicy jalapeno pepper that sort of “burns you twice” every time you remember it. That is the spice of the Christian life.

And a third example of spices and suffering is the losses we experience in old age. For instance, our hearing is diminished and we need hearing aids. Our mobility is reduced and we need a cane or a walker. Our ability to drive a car is impaired and we must give up our car keys. Maybe even our short-term memory is curtailed, or we become incontinent, or entirely dependent on others for our care and have to live in a nursing home. We lose our home.

One elderly friend of mine asks me in great anguish: “Why am I still here? I wish God would call me home! I feel to useless and just like a burden on my family and friends!” My friends, instead of wishing to be free of these sufferings – like St. Peter in the gospel – perhaps look at them like the spices Jesus is seasoning your Christianity with. You see, it is exactly this sweat equity of suffering that proves we are not Christian Oreos: Christian on the outside but worldly and sinful on the inside.

Folks, how refined is your Christian palate? Do you still just crave the “comfort food” – give me more mercy, forgiveness, and peace! Or can you handle the spicy food that is part of the full course meal of the followers of Christ? Listen to these perceptive words from St. Paul: “When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child” – and I would add, “eat as a child” – “when I became a man, I put aside childish things” (1 Co 13:11). That is, when we grow up, we too can handle the spice of the Christian life.

Praised be Jesus Christ!