In our own times, when the threat posed by climate change is becoming increasingly obvious, this Gospel passage asks us to look and act with openness to our sharing in God’s plan. There is no mandate here for doing nothing and letting catastrophe happen. Ours is not a religion of sanctified fatalism or pious denialism. Ours is a faith which demands that we face reality, however scary it sometimes seems. We are people of hope.

After all, Jesus doesn’t drift towards disaster. Rather, Jesus steps knowingly on the path towards salvation. His is a determined journey, aiming at redeeming the world. He has already told the disciples that good shall come of this. Peter’s protestation comes from an understandable but misplaced attachment to the secure ways of the present. Peter, fearful of a change that is already underway, reflexively wants to deny it.

Like Peter before us, Jesus calls every one of us to follow him. We can do that by renouncing our selfishness and, like Peter eventually did, getting over our denialist habits.