Matthew 16:21-28
The part of the Gospel we read this morning is only a section of a bigger portion. A few verses before Jesus asked his disciples about the public’s perception of his identity. He asked them, who do the people say that I am? as you remember the disciples told Jesus what they heard the people saying, you are John the Baptist, Eliyah, or Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Then he made it more personal, and who do you say I am? Immediately peter said, you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
The title Messiah together with Son of the living God involved power. Power on earth and in heaven. To Peter’s answer Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Do you see what is happening? Jesus was turning over to Peter and the rest of his followers his power. Incredible! Because of Peter’s declaration, power is now in his hands and in the hands of the rest of Jesus’ disciples. Including us. And with those hands, with that power he was expecting them to reshape the world!
It was looking like Peter, and the rest were starting to understand who Jesus was and what he was about. That is until we read our scripture today, when Peter shows his lack of understanding. He does not understand that the kingdom of heaven he will be given the keys to, will only come to its fulfillment after the Messiah has suffered, killed, and raised from the dead. In these verses, Peter shows himself quite unworthy of the promises which have been made to him. Peter’s unworthiness is shown by some ironies we find in the text.
A moment ago, Peter was called the ‘rock’ on which the Church would be built, and now he is compared with a ‘stumbling block’, a rock with a poor foundation, a rock people might trip over, a barrier.
And what can we say about Peter’s authority to bind and lose? Well, he’s not slow in trying to use that authority. The first thing he says is, ‘God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ Here Peter is trying to bind on earth; He is trying to bind here on earth the suffering and death of the messiah, hoping it will also be bound in heaven. All this earns him the Lord’s hard rebuke, ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ Peter has gotten it all wrong because -according to Jesus- he sees things merely from a human point of view, not from God.
“Get behind Me, Satan!” Until I reflected on this passage. I thought that it was a hard expression for someone who only shows good intentions. Now, let us put ourselves in Peter’s place: our beloved teacher, our friend, the man who heals the sick and gives sight to the blind, the one for whom we abandoned our occupations has announced he will be killed. Peter did what many of us would have done: he tried to shield a loved one from suffering and harm.
Yes, Peter had good intentions; unfortunately, as the saying goes, “good intentions can pave the road to Hell.” Peter could not grasp the enormity of God’s plan; this is why Jesus said, “Your ideas are not divine, but human!” Verse 22 is vital to understand this passage. “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” I checked different versions of the bible. NIV uses the word rebuke to describe Peter’s action; others use, revoke, scold, and correct. And all these words have the same meaning: to be wrong, to be out of place, and not know what one is doing. Therefore, we can paraphrase what Peter told Jesus like this: Jesus, you’re mistaken, you do not understand what you are doing, let me correct you and tell you how to do things, let me explain what your ministry as our Messiah is about. Listen, Jesus, this cannot be what God intends for you. There must be a different way. This is not what our Expected One must do. Suffering and dying is for us for your soldiers, the prophets, and ordinary people. You are supposed to be different. You are supposed to save us from all our enemies!
We can also paraphrase Jesus’ answer to Peter like this, “you know what Peter? I am not wrong; I am not out of place; you are out of place. You are trying to lead me. Have you forgotten what my father revealed to you a moment ago? I am the Messiah; I am the Son of the living God. Peter, go behind me; you are my follower; I am the leader. Stop trying to lead me.”
Immediately after this, the Gospel says, Jesus called all his followers and told them what is one of the most trouble quotes to prosses for many Christians. “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” In other words, if anyone wants to follow me, stop seeking your interests and seek the kingdom of heaven; If anyone wants to follow me, stop trying to pursue, to chase your plans and let God fulfill his plans in your life and through your life.
Peter -brothers and sisters- had some ideas about the Messiah and had already planned what the Messiah would do, and when he heard the plans of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of the living God, he realized that they were not compatible, he decided then who was wrong, and it was not him, it was Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. That is why he called him Satan, which means adversary, opponent, challenger, someone who comes and stands in the middle.
In preparation for this sermon, -which always begins a month before- I reviewed some episodes of my life when I was “that Satan” disagreeing with God’s plans. And realized that what all these episodes have in common was that God was doing things that I did not expect, and he was doing it in a way that I did not like; and what it was worst seemed to me that he did not pay attention to all those wonderful plans I already had, to all the decisions I had already taken.
From those episodes of my life, I also learned that in the bible, we have examples to follow and examples to avoid. I admire Peter a lot; however, I would not like to be called Satan. So, I try to avoid acting as he did… at least in that moment. So, whenever God does something, I do not like, in a way that I disagree or not understand, or not expected, before taking the chance to tell God what to do and to be called Satan, I reflect in two verses from the bible. Let me share them with you.
First Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth!”
Be still and know that I am God. If anyone knows what he is doing even with my life, that sometimes I believe belongs to me, that is God; he has a broader vision. He can foresight the consequences of our acts; he does not have selfish or personal interests like me, his main concern is the whole church, the whole creation, and in him, “there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1:17, His will and plans are perfect. When God does something in my life or around me, that is the best for me; and the person or persons he chooses to do it with, is or are the best qualified for the job, and the way they choose is also the best—knowing that… I can be still and wait in my Lord. Whenever I feel tempted to “fix” what Jesus is doing wrong, beside remembering Peter, I remember Abraham and Sarah when he tried helping God; when I do not understand what God is doing or why he is doing it, I step aside and let God be God.
Other verses I reflect on are Acts chapter 5:38-39, “So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” As you remember, this part of Acts is when the religious leaders are together trying to decide what to do with the disciples because they were preaching the risen Christ and Gamaliel the elder, one of the leaders told them those words.
These verses teach me that I do not have to defend God; all I must do is obey God. God can defend himself. We are here to witness not to defend God. In the end, his will will be done on earth and in heaven with or without my approval. If you ever find yourself in Peter’s situation and do not understand what God is trying to do, let God be God, be still, and wait in the Lord.