Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 8th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 27 – 38:
27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
31 And he began to teach them that vthe Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
You have just got to give it to Peter. He and his mouth often give me comfort when I’ve put my foot in my mouth. If he were your friend every time he opened his mouth you would cringe not knowing what he is going to say next. In one biblical verse He’s the hero and a few verses later, he is doing the will of Satan.. What a joy to know Jesus’ forgiveness.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus took His disciples up north to the area around Caesarea Philippi to get away from the crowds for a bit. Caesarea Philippi was some distance from Galilee in the Northern Province. It was near Mount Hermon and the source of the Jordan River. This basically meant that Jesus and the disciples would be alone and Jesus could pay attention to their instruction. In modern day terms, this was part of their seminary training.
Many professors in Christian seminaries will tell you that the core of all theology is Christology. That is, if you solidly understand the identity of Christ, the rest of theology is a piece of cake. Apparently, Jesus thought the same thing because He began teaching His disciples about the nature of the Christ. Of course, in Jesus case, this means teaching the disciples about Himself.
He began by asking them to consider what the grapevine was saying about Him: “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples came back with all kinds of answers: “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”
Then Jesus moved on: He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” He wanted to hear their personal confession. Of course, Peter was the first to put into words what the other disciples were thinking: “You are the Christ.” In this case, Peter got the words exactly right. If I were to use an appropriate sporting metaphor in this month of September, I would say that He converted the try to win the game. Unfortunately, he would be the hero for only a few short verses. We quickly learn that even though he got the words right, He didn’t really understand their true meaning.
At this point in His ministry, Jesus knew that the disciples did not properly understand the meaning of Peter’s good confession. That is the reason He told the disciples to keep quiet about it for the time being. That is also the reason that Jesus began telling them about the true meaning of Peter’s confession. Today’s Gospel says: He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly.
His disciples found this message to be deeply offensive. Peter, especially, took offence at Jesus’ words. Peter took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him. We don’t use the word rebuke often, but it means that Peter really laid it on the line to Jesus. Peter actually used strong direct words in order to try to put Jesus right on this matter.
Of course Jesus loved Peter too much to let him get away with that. Jesus stopped, did an about face and gave it straight back to Peter. Jesus used some pretty strong language too: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Jesus could be gentle, but not this time. He blasted Peter. To use a sporting metaphor: Peter had just dropped the ball and given the opposition the advantage.
During the Lenten period, we talked about how the devil continued to tempt Jesus. One of the greatest temptations went something like this: “Listen Jesus, this cross thing is going to hurt a lot. You have the power. You can increase your following by just doing these miracles. There is no reason for you to follow through with your plan to suffer. Everyone is expecting you to set up an earthly kingdom. Why not give them what they expect?” Well the fact is, that when Peter took Jesus aside and scolded Jesus, he was acting as an agent of Satan. He was tempting Jesus to give up his road to the cross.
The cross is the main reason the Son of God took on human flesh in the first place. The Old Testament declares that the Christ must suffer, die, and rise from the dead. This was the plan from eternity. This is exactly what Jesus was teaching His disciples when Peter interrupted Him.
The devil is still at work trying to hide the cross. Our modern society often finds the cross to be offensive. It is gruesome. It is ‘R’ rated for violence. It is hard to contemplate in its shame and cruelty. Many will try to bury the cross’s message. Jesus loves these people too much to let them get away with it. Today’s Gospel speaks to those who wish to hide the cross and says, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Some people say, “All right, we get it, but we’ve heard enough about the cross. Now, let’s move on to the other teachings of the Bible.” To these people Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!”
The Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to write, [1 Corinthians 2:2] “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Never the less, some will ask, “Does every devotion need to talk about the cross?” To these people Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!”
[Matthew 19:14] Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Never the less, some ask, “Do we have to remind the children of that ugly, old cross every Sunday?” To these people Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!”
The devil, the world, and our own sinful nature would do anything and everything to get the cross out of our lives, for it is on the cross that our savior died and defeated the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature. It is on the cross that our savior died to take away our sins. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write, “Christ crucified is [1 Corinthians 1:23-24] a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Jesus doesn’t beat around the bush. He used stern words with Peter and He uses stern words with us. However, these words are not designed to drive us away. They are designed to place us back where we belong. Jesus did not tell Peter and the other disciples, “So, you are offended by the cross. Then you can no longer be my disciples.”
Instead, He continued to teach them. He continued to prepare them. When the time was right – when the disciples had lived through the experience of knowing their master was dead on a cross, Jesus rose from the dead, appeared to them and [Luke 24:45-46] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” He restored them to Himself.
He does the same thing with us. In spite of our rebellion, He calls us to follow Him. He opens our eyes to the power of God in His crucifixion. He shows us the forgiveness of our sins in His crucifixion. In His crucifixion He shows us salvation and life everlasting.
We will receive all these things through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith in Him. Through that same faith we will follow Him through death into the resurrection of everlasting life.
Jesus has promised that life in this world will be hard for those who follow Him. Their confession of faith may bring them shame in this world. It may even bring them to death. Yet He has promised, “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it.” Those who have the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith in Jesus Christ may lose everything in this world, but in the end, God will give them eternal life. Amen
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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