Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
"God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you."
Just before this Peter had been thinking with the mind of Christ, confessing about Jesus what flesh and blood had not revealed to him, but the Father in heaven. But it is often the case with consolations that it is difficult to recognize when they cease. Then, still in the afterglow, we give our own ideas more weight and consideration than they deserve. No doubt Peter was still riding the high of the revelation had he been given and the praise Jesus conferred on him. We should not dismiss this present suggestion of Peter to Jesus out of hand. We must first regard all of the natural virtues contained in the above statement before we can clearly see how dangerous was the mistake at its root. We should at least recognize the concern Peter had for Jesus, and the fact that he had cast his lot with him. He did not think to abandon Jesus at this point now that his plan didn't sound so appealing as it did at first. Rather, he attempted to offer Jesus an alternative, a plan where he need not suffer greatly and be killed. But though it may sound good at first, the more closely we analyze this suggestion the more closely we do in fact recognize its similarity to the way Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert. Part of this temptation was the suggestion that he could receive the all the kingdoms of the world another way than by pouring out his own blood to in love to win them for himself. But the other way was Satan's way, and could only provide an enslaved people, not one which was free or could be free on those terms. Only the way of the cross could deliver humanity from slavery to sin. There was no alternative when that was the goal. Hence Peter's alternative, which sounded good on the surface, was so dangerous. The apparent good it contained was great. But the loss concealed would be incalculably massive.
He turned and said to Peter,
"Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."
Peter had not yet been fully transformed by the renewal of mind, of which his revelation about the identity of Jesus was merely a beginning. He was still largely conformed to the present age, not yet able to recognize the way that the difficulties of this life could be offered to God as spiritual worship. But Jesus helped to steer him back onto the right course, showing the emptiness of the of life in the world apart from him, and the promise that would attend following in his steps.
Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
It is dangerous to make secondary things, even if they are good, into primary things. Wishing to save our lives in this world is a game we can only play for a limited time. Our lives here must be about more than how long we can hold onto our health, about more than the wealth we can amass, or the pleasures we can experience. For in the end we can cling to none of these. But we can, indeed we must, cling to the cross of Christ. For it this is how we truly cast our lot with Jesus where he has chosen to be, rather than where our flesh would perhaps prefer.
Taking up our crosses does not so much mean that we abuse ourselves and make ourselves to suffer so much is it implies a readiness to let go of anything that gets in the way of following Jesus and his will for us. We too must grow in the renewal of our minds spoken of by Paul. That we can do so is a promised part of the potential of our new life in the Spirit. These new minds can recognize and place first things first. They can unmask sin and allow us to die to it. Even the incidental sufferings that we experience just by being alive in a fallen world can be reinterpreted to be part of a great offer of ourselves, together with Jesus, to the Father.
Do not conform yourselves to this age
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and pleasing and perfect.
In the beginning of our Christian walk we may experience moments of exultant consolation. But after this subsides there may come a time when we think, "You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped". Certainly Peter might have thought something along these lines when Jesus explained that he must suffer. But the renewing of our minds can transform our perspective. We can receive wisdom enough to see the following Jesus to the cross is not the dead end it may first appear to be, but rather the only way to life, to anything that truly lasts.
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct.
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