Right Words, Wrong Way

Pastor Pat opens with a confession: he once made his wife cry over sushi. He made the reservation, bought flowers and called the sitter, then spent dinner handing her a report card on life at home. He started the night as the hero and ended it as the villain. Peter does the same thing in Matthew 16, only faster.

A few verses earlier, Peter gets the big answer right: Jesus is the Messiah. Now Jesus explains what that means. He will go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter takes him aside and rebukes him: “Never, Lord!” Peter had Jesus’ job title right and the job description wrong. He said it out of real love, but if he had his way there would be no cross, and no slain Lamb to worship.

The problem was Peter’s worldview. He expected the Son of David to throw Rome out and set up his kingdom in Jerusalem, and a Messiah who dies wasn’t in that picture. Pat points out that we rarely see our own worldview, because we grew up inside it. He sets the answers our culture gives, like “be true to yourself” and “happiness is the goal,” next to the words of Jesus. You find yourself by denying yourself, and the one who designed you is the one who defines you.

Jesus had said nearly the same words to Satan in the wilderness (Matthew 4:10). The phrase “get behind me” in verse 23 is the same Greek phrase as “come after me” in verse 24, so the rebuke is also an invitation: get back in line and follow.

Crucifixion was Rome’s punishment for slaves and rebels, and it was meant to shame. Jesus asks his followers to identify with it. He is just as honest about the reward. Pat admits verse 28 is hard to pin down, but he is sure that death is never the end of the story.

He closes with a question for the whole room. Where have you put your arm around Jesus and said, “Real quick, let me tell you how I think this should go”? It might be the kids’ sports schedule, being generous “once I’m stable,” your plans for the next five years, or the person you won’t forgive. Peter heard “I’m going to die” and missed “raised to life.” Keep listening to the end.