Matthew 16:21-23
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.”
From hero to goat in the just a few moments. That’s usually how Peter’s fall from grace seems to us. But before rushing to judgment, a few things to note:
First, Matthew says “from that time on,” indicating that Peter’s rebuke of Jesus’ vision of what it means to be Messiah comes some time after his great confession. We don’t know how long, but the phrase Matthew employs suggests it may have been a while.
Second, it’s important to keep in mind just how unexpected Jesus’ words are. When Israelites thought of the promised messiah, they thought of a descendant of David who, like David, would be a military commander and who would return the nation to its former glory. The idea that the messiah would suffer, let alone be crucified, was unimaginable.
Third, whereas Mark reports that Jesus “told” his disciples this unexpected news, Matthew records that Jesus “began to show” them. We don’t know what that showing involved, but it again implies news given over time, repeated, and accompanied by some significant demonstration. Jesus was driving the point home.
Until Peter could take no more: “God forbid it.”
And who can blame him. After confessing Jesus to be lord and messiah and Son of God earlier, and after receiving Jesus’ commendation for his confession, this revelation that to be God’s messiah is to be the one who suffers and that to be God’s Son is to triumph not through military might but through vulnerability is simply too much, too hard to take in, to impossible to entertain.
Unlike Peter, we are not surprised by this revelation. Indeed, we who flock to churches adorned with crosses and comfortably talk of a suffering messiah perhaps take all this for granted. Jesus rebukes Peter for expressing, and perhaps tempting him with, an earthly understanding of glory. But I nevertheless covet for us some sense of Peter’s scandal and outrage, some measure of shock at just how far God will go in Jesus to tell us of his love. Indeed, Peter is in error for rejecting the shape of his Lord’s reign, yet we dare not accept it blandly or without notice.
Prayer: Dear God, keep the sacrifice of your Son before us as recognition of your deep love and as example of how we might also care for others through our own vulnerability. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Thank you for that insight into Peter, and our corresponding response! It’s really helped shed more light on what can be a very difficult passage. I preached on this a couple of weeks ago and was thinking along the lines of ‘what scandalises us – and what should do?’ but I hadn’t taken the extra step to Peter’s outrage, prompted by love. Maybe next time.
Thank you again.