A reading from the book of Deuteronomy (30:15-20)
Moses said to the people: ‘Look, today I am offering you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am laying down for you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws and his customs, you will live and grow numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering and make your own. But if your heart turns away, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish; you will not live for long in the land which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. Today, I call heaven and earth to witness against you: I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live, in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, holding fast to him; for in this your life consists, and on this depends the length of time that you stay in the land which the Lord swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that he would give them.’
The final book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy, comprises several speeches of Moses. The reading today is taken from the last great speech, before the account of Moses’ ascent of Mount Nebo and his death (Deuteronomy 34). To live as a human being is to choose: our choices have consequences. To turn away from God, to serve false gods, leads to disaster. To choose to obey God’s law of life is to rely on the trustworthy God who has already spoken to the ancestors, and who will protect us in the present and in the future.
Psalm 1 The theme of choice continues. The first psalm expresses a blessing on those who delight in the law of the Lord, who are compared to a tree standing strong beside flowing waters. Not so are the wicked, who are like ‘winnowed chaff’, at the mercy of the wind.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (9:22-25)
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The Son of man must suffer much, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be put to death, and on the third day be raised up.’
Then, speaking to all, he said, ‘Anyone who wants to be a follower of mine, must renounce self and take up the cross every day and follow me. For whoever wants to save life will lose it; but whoever loses life for my sake, will save it. What does it profit someone to gain the whole world while losing or forfeiting self?’
Following Peter’s confession that Jesus is ‘Messiah’, Jesus speaks to the disciples for the first time about the suffering and death he foresees. Jesus knows what awaits him in Jerusalem. At the same time, he announces that he will be ‘raised up on the third day’. The choice put before Israel, to ‘choose life’, is starkly redrawn here as Jesus invites everyone to take up ‘the cross’, and be ready to ‘lose life’. The willingness to lose life is in fact an option for life. The journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, which is about to begin, will demonstrate this truth.
Recall the sacrifices you have made, and see how they led to life.
For those who cling, that the Lord will grant them freedom.