From the announcement of His passion, a new phase begins in the life of Jesus, in the understanding of His person and in the way His disciples should be.

 

From the announcement of His passion, a new phase begins in the life of Jesus, in the understanding of His person and in the way His disciples should be. This new phase will no longer be one of euphoria, but of rejection, suffering and loss, including for many of His disciples. Jesus prepares His disciples more directly, because they will all have to face the same challenges as He does. They will have to be strengthened in faith and in the knowledge of everything that Jesus proposes for everyone, for the fulfillment of the Father's plan. To them, Jesus reveals Himself as a Servant, as one who has no other way of being than that of obedience, of total surrender, totally detached and free from all types of ties. His being is all for the Father and exclusively. Because He is all for the Father, He becomes all for humanity, for the salvation of all. He shows no interest in the riches of the world and its power, and He cannot bear the idea of ​​being a political king, a representative of any form of human government. It does not occur to him to be the fulfiller of the messianic promise in the sense of being the New David, the restorer of the dynasty of Israel according to the understanding of the leaders and the people of Israel. This was also the idea of ​​all His apostles and disciples. Peter, for example, feeling that he had the authority to correct Jesus, tried to convince Him otherwise, enabling the reproduction of Jesus' third temptation in the desert. The words spoken by Peter in that situation are like a stumbling block for Jesus' life. This means that he is completely ignorant of both this issue and the statement that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God." It is true that Peter discovered that Jesus is the MESSIAH, but he wanted Him to be within his own personal concepts. Therefore, after an important revelation, he fell into the trap of being like "a stumbling block." In fact, both Peter and the others needed to completely change their mindset. According to Matthew, Jesus' teachings are directed to His disciples. Mark, in turn, also adds the crowd; and Luke, without restricting anyone, understands that Jesus’ teaching is for everyone, it is universal. In this teaching, Jesus makes it clear that His disciples should never live for themselves, not be afraid to carry the cross and follow the suffering Servant, making their lives true gifts of self-giving for the good of all. They should not follow the dictates of the body. Saint Paul warns: “I urge you, my brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living offering, holy and acceptable to God. Let this be your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1). In other words, they should put the Beatitudes into practice. Furthermore, they should not consider their lives as something absolute, in the sense of not “wearing themselves out” for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Each person’s life is a gift, but it must be made available for salvation, for the will of God. Otherwise, it would not be life. Wanting to save one’s own life, according to the human mindset, is the same as taking a path of death, because choices are always against one’s own nature. True life is that offered by Jesus: His own life, ETERNAL life. Disciples must not cling to the things of the world and its riches, they must not fight for interests that are not salvific; they must be detached, free, supportive, available and lovers of good and truth. Those who have the courage to “lose” the life of the world will certainly gain the Life of God. The life of a disciple is manifested in the splendor of a mind full of FAITH, a heart filled with LOVE and a will overflowing with HOPE. In verse 28, Matthew establishes a connection between this moment and the Transfiguration: “There are some of those standing here who will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom.” Some disciples will experience the coming of the Son of God especially at the Transfiguration (Peter, James and John), and all of them will experience the Risen One. The fact is that the meaning of the disciples’ lives was profoundly established by the very person of Jesus as the Messiah of God. The disciples’ encounter with Jesus was already, in a certain way, eschatological. The succession of events marks and deepens an intimacy for all time.