In the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul writes, “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2). Although he was writing to people of a different time than us, how appropriate this instruction or advice is for any age. After all, looking around and considering all of creation, there’s not only a broad spectrum of living things, but also cycles or seasons of change that occur across each category, and all created in the image of the Creator. With all of this, it’s not too hard to imagine God as being far more dynamic than any one generation, society, or age might deem.

Still though, it can be easy to move through a task, a day, or more with “a place for everything and everything in its place” mindset, whether as an individual or within a group or an organization. Perhaps St. Paul is reminding us not to get hung up on making things fit into our existing notions, to the extent that we leave no room to perceive the new things that God is doing or trying to teach us (Is 43:19). After all, how can God reveal to us, even a portion of insight to God’s will or a shimmer of the expanse and depth of God’s love, if one has already made up their mind and is so fixed and unwilling to consider something other?

This is not to say that one should never hold fast to a value or notion, but rather to be cautious of excluding possibilities outside of the ones already recognized or held.

In the Gospel for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Matthew 16:23). He says this because Peter’s response comes out of his own understanding and is not based on listening to and considering what was said or communicating with Jesus.

When Jesus reveals that he will be killed, it does not fit the narrative of Peter’s notion of what’s to come of the Anointed One. The influence of Peter’s response is not of God. It is rigid, does not consider what the Anointed One has said, and leaves no room for possibilities outside of what Peter “knows”.

Again, looking around and considering all of creation, there is change, there is fluidity. God is not rigid. And, having been created in God’s image, humankind is not meant to be rigid either. To hold fast? Yes, but first and foremost to God. This is so that everything else not only falls into place in a way that is most fitting, but also in a way that is blessed and does not serve to block the flow of God’s grace from extending in ways beyond our own understanding.

Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
He turned and said to Peter,
“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Then Jesus said to his disciples,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct.” – Matthew 16:21-27