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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me do my small part to solve big problems. Amen!

Jesus asked the Apostles, "Who do people say I am?" They said, "John the Baptist, Elijah or a prophet." Jesus asked, "But who do you say I am?" Peter had the answer: "You're the Messiah, who'll save the world." Jesus warned them that He'd be hurt for saying He was the Messiah. Peter got worried. Jesus scolded him: "Get away from me, Satan! You're thinking like a person, not like God."

When you learn about a problem, you often wonder why it can't just be fixed. Your teacher talks about climate change, and you immediately want all factories and car-makers to become environmentally friendly. You hear about places suffering from droughts and want to send them water from your town.

It's frustrating when things are more complicated than they seem. That was also Peter's problem in this week's Gospel (Mark 8:27-35).

Jesus had come to save the world; He was the Son of God, the Messiah. Peter was sure of that - so, when Jesus predicted that He'd die for it, Peter wanted to defend Jesus.

To Peter, it seemed pretty simple: Jesus was God, and no one should hurt Him. Anyone who tried should watch out for Peter's fists!

If you're studying the environment in school, you know that the problems can't be solved easily. Some newer cars don't pollute as much, but not everyone can buy one - and the amount of water needed to solve a drought can't come from your pool.

Peter couldn't solve Jesus' problem, either. He could follow Jesus, learn from Him and teach others, but Peter couldn't force people to love God. That would be "thinking like Satan."

Solving big problems starts small. You can't fix a drought, but you can stop taking half-hour showers and save some water. For Peter, struggling to understand Jesus' path was a start: Jesus, Peter learned, really would have to die to save the world.[[In-content Ad]]

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