Matthew 16:21-28
There is a sport called orienteering that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and unfamiliar terrain while moving at speed.
- My version of orienteering is to paddle my kayak through the Everglades…and get myself lost.
- And try to find my way back with my compass.
- Oh boy! I always keep a GPS in my dry bag…to keep me on course…in case I really go missing.
- Being off course even one degree would…depending on the distance I was paddling…
- Take me far away from my intended homecoming.
Well…Jesus often presented his followers new paths…new courses…to follow.
- And new ways to look at the people and the world around them.
- It was…and is…important to listen to Jesus.
- Following and doing what he says while we travel through unfamiliar terrain and while moving at speed.
To better understand…it is important to remember Jesus’ follow-up question several verses back:
- “But who do you say that I am?”
- Simon Peter answered: “You are the Messiah…the Son of the Living God.”
I believe that when Peter made this statement he had in mind a warrior-king like David.
- A king who would defeat the Romans and make Israel a free state.
- A king who would drive the occupiers from this beloved land.
The problem with Peter’s expectation is not that it’s unreasonable.
- But that it does not change anything.
- Rome is there by force and by violence.
- Even if Jesus uses greater force and violence to drive them out…
- Eventually…someone with even more force…will take over yet again.
- It’s a vicious cycle.
At this point Jesus said to Peter:
- “Blessed are you Simon…son of Jonah! And I tell you…you are Peter…and on this rock I will build my church…and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”
Now…it is unlikely that Peter realized the immensity of what Jesus had just said to him.
- While Peter was probably imagining a warrior-king…Jesus was certainly not thinking that.
- Jesus was leading his followers to a new reality…a new course…that did not depend on violence and force.
- Instead…it relied on forgiveness and sacrifice and mercy and love.
Our passage for today says:
- “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.”
- Well…Peter took Jesus aside and blurted out: “God forbid it…Lord!
- This must never happen to you.”
We can understand Peter’s rebuke.
- What would we say if someone we loved…who was in good health…told us:
- “I am planning to suffer and die”?
- Certainly…Peter’s rebuke was spurred by love for his master.
- If Peter was…indeed…expecting Jesus to be the promised warrior-king.
- Then what Jesus just said made little sense to Peter.
- How could Jesus endure suffering and death and still be victorious?
But Jesus responded sharply:
- “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.”
- Jesus had just affirmed Peter for his statement that Jesus was the Messiah.
- But now…Jesus calls Peter Satan and describes him as a stumbling block!
- Imagine how painful that was for Peter.
Jesus’ response suggests that he was being tempted once again to turn from the plan of his Father.
- Just as Satan had tempted him in the wilderness.
- There Jesus said: “Away with you Satan!”
- Here he said the same thing: “Get behind me…Satan!”
Did Jesus suddenly stop loving Peter? No.
- Did he no longer want him as a disciple? No.
- But we can also understand that Jesus was demanding a course correction from Peter.
Jesus’ message that day…of course…was directed at all his disciples…not just Peter.
- So…he continued talking with them and showing them what it means to be his follower.
- Jesus said: “If any wish to come after me…let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
- Jesus said that those whose greatest goal was to “save their life will lose it.
- And those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
- These are hard words.
I have…at one time or another…have had a better plan than God for how things ought to be in this world we live in.
- I think: “If God would just listen to…and act…on my plan…things would be so much better.”
- And I mean it.
But would things really be better?
- Even taking everything…I have ever learned in life and giving it my best shot.
- I see only a tiny portion of the big picture God sees.
- While I could map out a scenario that would probably suit me well.
- I cannot see how that would affect someone else.
When I have experienced tragedy in my life…I am still asked to remain a person of faith.
- When I tell God that he has everything all messed up.
- He may very well need to do a “course correction” in my thinking and in my faith.
Sometimes that may be in the form of a gentle nudge from a trusted friend.
- Sometimes that may be a hard word spoken to us through God’s word.
- Through a confessor or prayer partner.
- Through circumstances.
But when that happens…I have Peter to look to.
- Remembering how he questioned everything.
- But Jesus stuck with him…and he stuck with Jesus.
- It is fitting to hear these words of Peter himself…from the first epistle of Peter:
- “Come to Jesus…a living stone…rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight…and like living stones…let yourselves be built into a spiritual house…to be a holy priesthood…to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
It is hard to imagine that these powerful words of faith come to us from the same man to whom Jesus said:
- “Get behind me…Satan.”
- But that’s what happens when we are open to Jesus’ loving course corrections in our lives.