Poor Peter. . .and Me -
Matthew 16:21-23, NRSV - From that time on, Jesus
began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great
suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke
him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind
me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not
on divine things but on human things.”
The temptation
present in reading this passage is to feel sorry for poor Peter. He sticks his foot in his mouth and gets a
harsh callout from his master Jesus – being called Satan for trying to deny the
message that Jesus was trying to get across.
But in order to hear a message for us today, we need to resist that
temptation. Instead, we need to put
ourselves in Peter’s shoes.
Peter
most likely spoke what the others were feeling but not saying. They have all followed Jesus for months now
and seen Him do countless miracles and introduce world-changing teaching. Thousands are beginning to follow Jesus and
momentum is building. Peter has just confessed
Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and Jesus has praised the
confession as being spot on. Peter sees
the end of Roman rule being in sight and Jesus taking back the throne of His
ancestor David. And Peter and the other
disciples are in Jesus’s inner circle.
Things couldn’t be better!
But
then Jesus starts talking about his own death.
He will be arrested, tried, and eventually killed. This is NOT how it’s supposed to go. This is WRONG! “Jesus, stop saying that!” Why is the rug being pulled out from under
us?
I’ve
been there. I’ve been in situations
where all seemed to be going well when, “BOOM!” The bubble is popped and all of
a sudden, it seems that all is spinning out of control. My prayers at such times have sounded a lot
like Peter speaking to Jesus.
“God,
this is not supposed to be this way.
Please stop it. Put things back
the way they were. Make it right, Jesus….
Please!”
Not getting
what we wanted is painful. We wonder why
God would allow that to happen. But
Jesus answer is often not what we want to hear.
“You are setting your mind not on divine things but on
human things.”
Ouch. Hard to hear
indeed.
The truth is none of the disciples would have made the plan
God did. None of them would have
advocated that the best thing for Jesus to do is willingly give up his life. In their place, I sincerely doubt that any
one of us would advocate such a radical plan.
The
plan is still radical and hard to swallow.
Take up our cross. Lose your life
to find it. Put the kingdom before all else…even
family. Turn the other cheek. I could go on and on. The point is that I often find myself not
liking the plan. I’m pretty sure this
plan isn’t at the top of any of our preferred way forward. This is because “setting our minds on divine
things” is hard. We’re quite fond of “human things” mind.
The term
for “setting our minds on divine things” is spiritual discipline. This includes things like prayer, meditating
on scripture, fasting/self-denial, and other disciplines. It is the daily intentional work we do to align
our spirits with the Spirit of God. It’s
unites our mind with God’s. Yes. This means we will not always get our
way. In fact, over time, we realize that
not getting our own way is actually a good thing. It leaves room for God to get God’s way with
us. And that’s better for us
anyway.
Question: Is there a
place in your life where you are at-odds with God?
Prayer: Creator, Redeemer,
Sustainer God, your ways are higher than ours, though we don’t always like it. Strengthen our hearts and minds to submit to
your ways, especially when we don’t like it.
Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for the victims of the random violence is Wisconsin this week.
Song: Your Ways Are
Higher Than Mine - The Collingsworth Family
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