Knowing the Way? (2026-08-30, 22nd Sunday)

[ver_04]  Living Faithfully When We Don't Know the Way

22nd Sunday _Year A   | August 30, 2026 | 

1. A Season of Preparation

This is a season of preparation. It's back-to-school season: buying notebooks, getting schedules organized, getting ready for the end of summer and the return to a more regular routine.

And in one way or another, all of us are preparing for something in our lives.

Recently, my parents got a new Wi-Fi router for their apartment. Their cable company told them they needed to replace the old equipment, and I was supposed to help them.

That stressed me out a little bit. I get nervous with all these devices and cords and cables, so I decided I was going to prepare for every possible outcome.

The day before, I took pictures of all the cables, the front of the equipment, the back of the equipment. I even uploaded the pictures into an artificial-intelligence computer, and it told me which cables we still needed and which cables could be retired.

I wanted to retire—but anyway, some of the cables could be retired.

I thought I had everything lined up perfectly.

The next day, I connected everything and called the cable company. They were very helpful, but things didn't go exactly according to plan. We had to change a few things and reboot everything four or five times.

At the end, my parents said, “You were on the phone with them for 2 hours.”

Actually, it was only 1 hour 56 minutes. But who's counting?

Everything eventually worked. But even though I had prepared carefully, I discovered again something we all discover in life:

We can prepare for the future. But we cannot control the future.

2. Peter Thinks He Knows the Way

And Peter is learning something about that in today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel is really part two of last Sunday's Gospel.

Last Sunday, Peter went "back to school". We might say Jesus was the teacher and the disciples were in the classroom.

Jesus asked them, “Who do people say that I am?” And then he asked the more important question:

“Who do you say that I am?”

Peter gets the answer right:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Peter gets the answer right intellectually. But he isn't ready for what that answer means.

Because now Jesus tells his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, that he will suffer and be put to death, and that he will be raised on the third day.

Peter doesn't want to hear that.

Peter expects the Messiah to be victorious. And we understand that. We want to prepare to win. We don't want to prepare to lose.

Peter has an idea of the road the Messiah is supposed to travel.

And Jesus tells him: That's not the road.

Peter thinks he knows the way.

But Jesus is the one who must show him the way.

3. Preparing Is Good — Controlling Is Different

There is nothing wrong with preparing.

Prudence is a virtue.

We study. We plan for retirement. We take out insurance. We go to the doctor. We take medicine. We fix things before they become emergencies. We even take pictures of every cable before changing a router.

Those are good things to do.

But sometimes preparation can quietly become an illusion of control.

We begin to think: If I prepare enough, if I anticipate every possibility, if I make the right decisions, everything will turn out exactly the way I expect.

Life doesn't work that way.

We can prepare for tomorrow, but we cannot possess tomorrow.

We cannot possess the result.

Our confidence as Christians is not confidence that everything will happen according to our expectations.

Our confidence is in God, who will remain with us even when things do not happen according to our expectations.

4. The Cross Does Not Mean Seeking Suffering

That's important when Jesus tells us today:

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

Jesus is not telling us to go looking for suffering.

Not every difficulty is simply something we are supposed to accept.

There are injustices we should try to correct. There are illnesses we should treat. There are problems we should try to solve.

And suffering does not necessarily mean that something is wrong with us. It certainly does not mean that God is punishing us.

But there are circumstances in life that we cannot simply make disappear.

Sometimes love requires us to accompany somebody who is sick.

Sometimes it means caring for somebody who is getting older.

Sometimes it means remaining present when we cannot fix the situation.

Taking up the Cross means refusing to abandon love simply because love has become costly.

And sometimes following Christ means admitting that we need guidance on the road ahead.

5. “Just Give Us the Miles”

Years ago, I remember driving with some friends through New England. We were driving through Massachusetts and New Hampshire on our way to Maine, and we had already spent quite a bit of time sitting in traffic.

When we got to a toll booth—this was back when there were actually people working in toll booths—we asked the toll collector, “How far is it to Portland?”

And he said, “About an hour and a half.”

As we drove away, one of my friends realized this ANSWER in terms of time was not the answer he wanted. He said: “The number of hours was not what we want to know. Don't tell us how long it's going to take. Just tell us the distance in miles it is. We'll tell you how long it's going to take!”

Because sometimes we're a little bit like that.  Just give me the information. I'll take it from here.

And sometimes we can even approach God that way.

Lord, tell me what's happening. Give me the information. Tell me what I need to know—and then I'll figure out how everything is supposed to work out and the timing and schedule too!

Peter is doing something like that in today's Gospel.

Jesus has told him what lies ahead: Jerusalem, suffering, the Cross—and then Resurrection.

But Peter doesn't like the route.

Peter has already decided how the story of the Messiah is supposed to unfold.

And perhaps sometimes we do the same thing.

6. Faith Asks Us to Follow

We can prepare for the future. We can ask questions. We can gather information. We can make prudent decisions. We can try to anticipate problems before they happen.

All of that is good.

But eventually faith asks something more of us than information.

Faith asks us to follow.

Peter does not have to understand every mile of the road ahead. He has to trust the One who is leading him.

And neither do we.

There will be times when things do not go according to our plans: illness, disappointment, responsibilities we did not expect, people who need our care, situations we cannot fix.

That doesn't mean we stop preparing. It doesn't mean we stop trying to solve problems.

We do what is reasonably ours to do.

But we can prepare for tomorrow without being able to possess tomorrow.

And perhaps that's what Jesus is teaching Peter when he says:

“Take up your cross and follow me.”

Not: Figure out everything that is going to happen.

Not: Control every mile of the journey.

But:

Follow me.

We don't always know the road ahead.

We don't always know how long the journey will take.

But we know the One we are called to follow.

And so perhaps our prayer this week can simply be:

“Lord, I do not know everything that is coming. I do not always know the road ahead. Give me grace for today, courage for tomorrow,

and help me to follow you.”