“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.” (Mark 8:31-32 NIV)
Have you ever thought about the audacity of this interaction? Peter was trying to put Jesus in His place. He pulled Jesus aside because we correct in private, right? And then Peter started to lay into Jesus about the uncomfy nature of His messaging. I can picture Peter: ‘Lord, are You trying to scare people off with all this talk about suffering and crucifixion? The crowd’s not really into that. You might want to lighten up a bit.’
Who did Peter think he was?
For that matter, who are any of us that we would argue with God? Yet we do.
Jesus’ response cuts us to the quick.
“But when Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, He rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” He said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Mark 8:33 NIV)
When we get in the way of what God is doing, we get in step with the downstairs agenda. We become a blunt tool in the hands of the enemy. Ouch!
I totally get where Peter is coming from. He’s afraid of scaring off the crowd with talk of surrender, suffering and death. People-pleasing had raised it’s ugly head once more, (I recognize it because I know it’s power in my own story). Jesus wasn’t concerned about scaring people off. Jesus was searching for those who would serve the Kingdom despite the high cost.
I read it somewhere, how Jesus was always gathering and sorting. He was sifting through folks to find the few who were truly willing to serve Him. Instead of being worried about lowering the bar to include everyone, Peter could have been consumed with making the cut himself. This teaching from Jesus could have served as a checkpoint for his own soul: am I willing to suffer for Jesus? (It may have aided him in his courtyard cross-examination.) Instead, Peter was offended by Jesus’ perfect will and he attempted to argue Him out of it.
I don’t want to argue with a holy God anymore. I want instead to adopt the mind of Christ who said:
“Here I am. I have come to do Your will.” (Hebrews 10:9 NIV)
His will can be our only aim. Whatever it looks like. Whatever it costs. However uncomfortable or shocking. It is good. His way is perfect. We want to please the Lord.
Lord, we long to do Your will. Don’t let us be scared off by the high cost. Please be as earnest with us as You were with Your disciples. Speak truth and give us the stamina to stay anyway. Strengthen our resolve in the midst of suffering, even if we die for Your sake. We want to make the cut and stay close to You forever. Amen.