Sermon – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Jeremiah 20:7-9 | Matthew 16:21-27) – 30 August 2026

This Sunday's Word of God confronts us with a very important question: What does it really mean to follow Jesus?

In the Gospel, Jesus begins by explaining to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be rejected, die, and rise again. However, Peter cannot accept this path. He wants a Messiah without suffering, without the cross, without self-denial.

Then Jesus speaks powerful words to him:

Whoever wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

These words are not just for Peter; they are for each and every one of us.

Following Jesus means learning to say no to our ego, our disordered desires, our pride, our love of comfort, and all the things that distance us from God. It doesn't mean giving up on ourselves, losing our worth, or belittling our own lives. It means putting God at the center and allowing Him to transform our hearts.

Often we want to follow Jesus, but only when the path is to our liking. We want the blessings, but not the cross. We want victory, but not perseverance. We want Jesus when everything is going well; but when hardship comes, our first reaction is: “Why did God allow this?”

Jeremiah shows us another reality.

The prophet suffers because of the task God gave him. He feels deceived, wronged, and misunderstood. He even considers giving up. But within him is something greater than his suffering:

There was a fire burning in my heart, trapped within my bones. I tried to hold it, but I couldn't.

What a beautiful image for our Christian life!

When we truly encounter the Lord, a fire is kindled within us that does not allow us to remain indifferent.

It is the Lord Himself who draws us to Him.

We give up on ourselves not simply because we have to, but because we begin to discover that Jesus is more valuable than the things we are attached to.

When the heart falls in love with Christ, what previously seemed like a great sacrifice begins to transform into freedom.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, following Jesus is not possible without conversion.

We must allow the Lord to remove us from the center. As long as I want to be at the center of everything, it will be difficult to follow Jesus. As long as my will is above God's will, I will carry the cross like a burden. But when I surrender my life to the Lord, I begin to understand that the cross is not the end: the cross is the path to resurrection.

Jesus is not promising his disciples a life free from hardship. He is promising his own presence.

And that changes everything.

We may go through difficult times, experience rejection, illness, loss, misunderstanding, and trials. But if Christ is with us, we do not walk alone.

Jesus is asking us today:

What are you willing to give up to follow me?

Perhaps it is a pride we should let go of.

Perhaps it's a resentment we've been harboring for a long time.

Perhaps it is a sin we are bound to.

Perhaps it's our need to control everything.

Perhaps it's our fondness for comfort.

Perhaps it is the difficulty we experience in forgiving.

We all know what our own cross is.

And Jesus doesn't say, "Look at the cross and be afraid."

He says, “Take up your cross and follow me.”

First comes “follow me.” The cross can only be carried with love when we walk in Christ’s footsteps.

Therefore, the Christian life is not just about following the rules. It is about allowing Jesus to find us and draw us to Himself.

The better we know the Lord, the more we desire to be with Him. The more we experience His love, the greater our strength becomes to let go of the things that distance us from Him.

And herein lies a great truth: When we give our lives to Christ, we do not lose Him. We find true life.

Jesus asks:

What good would it do a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?

The world can offer us many things: money, reputation, power, comfort, success. But none of these can fill the human heart like God does.

We can gain many things, and at the same time, we can lose the most important thing.

Therefore, today we are invited to choose Jesus again.

May the Lord grant us the grace to renounce ourselves, not with sorrow, but with love. May He place in our hearts the same fire that burned in Jeremiah's heart: a fire we cannot contain because it is born of God's love.

To follow Jesus, we must relinquish something of ourselves; but when we relinquish it out of love, we discover that it is the Lord Himself who draws us in, supports us, and transforms us.

Let us not fear the cross.

Let's look at Christ.

He's going ahead of us.

And whoever walks with Jesus may pass through the cross, but knows that there is resurrection after the cross.

May the Virgin Mary always help us to carry our Cross with strength and joy every day.