Have you ever stuck your foot in your mouth? Have you ever had a time where you thought you knew what you were talking about but it turns out that you didn’t quite have all the facts straight. It can be a little embarrassing.
[Like the stock boy at the grocery store. A lady asked him, "Can I buy a half of lettuce?" He walked back to the manager to ask, not realizing she was walking right behind him. He said, "You’re not going to believe this, there’s an old bag out there who wants to buy half a head of lettuce." Then he turned around and saw her standing there and said, "And this fine lady would like to buy the other half." Later in the day the manager cornered the young man and said, “That was the finest example of thinking on your feet I’ve ever seen! Where did you learn that?” “I grew up in Grand Rapids, and if you know anything about Grand Rapids, you know that it’s known for its great hockey teams and ugly women.” The mangers face flushed, and he interrupted, “My wife is from Grand rapids!” “And which Hockey team did she play for?”}
We have been talking about Peter and Jesus. Last week we looked at Peter walking on the water. In the midst of the storm we are to look to the Lord and he will grant us peace. The storm may continue to rage but there will at least be peace in our hearts.
This week we are going to look at another exchange between Peter and Jesus. As we get ready to read today’s scripture passage I need to set things up a little bit. Jesus and his disciples had been going around to different places where Jesus was teaching and healing. While they were in Caesarea Philippi, a pretty rough place, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am.” They had responded with, John the Baptist, Elijah because of the prophecy saying that he would return, Jeremiah because he was a weeping prophet and Jesus would also give over to tears or just one of the other prophets.
None of these of course were correct and Jesus then asked the disciples who they thought he was. One may wonder how they reacted to that question. Did they sit there with a mouth full of teeth not quite sure how to respond? Did they all look around and then at Peter? They had thought that this might be the Messiah but they hadn’t been asked to publically state it. Peter is the one who answers, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God.” That must have been a remarkable statement for him to make.
The disciples had spent the most time with Jesus and they were really beginning to figure out who Jesus was. This answer had impressed Jesus and he said that he would build his church on Peter, the Rock, and he would give him the keys of heaven. But they weren’t to tell anyone else what they all knew. I don’t know about you but this is pretty high praise for Peter.
Peter has shown his faith in Jesus in walking on the water but he also doubted him and Jesus had questioned him on that when he asked him, “Why did you doubt?” Peter seems to redeem himself with his answer.
So that is where we are as we look at today’s scripture passage found in Matthew 16:21-28.
Poor Peter, he just can’t seem to get things right. One step forward and two steps back or something like that. Jesus has just given Peter all kinds of high praise and now he is calling him Satan!?! One can only imagine what this did to Peter’s ego but possibly he needed to be brought down a notch.
Like I said the disciples were beginning to get a grasp on who Jesus was, the promised Messiah. Jesus was coming to establish his kingdom. The disciples however were thinking of kingdom like we would think of when we hear the word kingdom. They were thinking of an earthly kingdom a dynasty. They were ready to get back to Israel being a powerful autonomous nation again. They wanted to be free once and for all from Rome and any other foreign rulers and their pagan gods. After all they had been praying for this to happen for years.
The disciples were going to get in on the ground floor of this kingdom. They were the followers of Jesus and if he was going to overthrow the government then they would be called upon to be his advisor and to help him rule. This was how things were done in that day and so you really can’t blame the disciples for thinking anything to the contrary.
So when Jesus starts talking about something different than that Peter and probably the others as well, are taken aback by what Jesus is saying. This isn’t the way things are supposed to happen. Peter however is the first one to speak up. Just like last week when we see Jesus speak out while the rest of the disciples were silent, he does it again.
Peter is now telling Jesus how things are going to work. WHAT???? The student telling the teacher how things are going to be? As shocked as Peter was at what Jesus was saying he was out of place. You might question the teacher for clarification but you would never tell the teacher that they were wrong.
Noble as Peter’s intentions were he was out of line telling Jesus that this was not going to happen to him. This didn’t fit the plans. Peter didn’t want his friend, his teacher, the Messiah to have to suffer. If Jesus was going to die then how in the world was he going to become king? Jesus didn’t know what he was talking about and Peter was going to set him straight, this wasn’t going to happen, not on Peter’s watch.
The interesting this about it is Peter seemed to miss part of what Jesus was saying. Jesus tells them that he will be raised to life again on the third day but for some reason Peter doesn’t seem to hear that or that part of things just doesn’t seem to register with him.
We shake our heads and say, “Peter, Peter, Peter. Come on man, you should know better than this. Where do you get off telling Jesus how things are going to be?” “Peter you were doing so good, Jesus gave you the keys to the kingdom! How could you just go and screw it up?”
Well, not so fast. We may have a lot more in common with Peter than we would like to admit?
There are times where I feel real sorry for Peter. He was just trying to do the right thing as he saw it. The problem with that is just that, as HE SAW IT. This wasn’t his plan to determine. This was how Jesus was going to do things.
How hard is it to look at things through the eyes of Jesus?!? We have our own desires and thoughts and they often do not line up with Jesus’ thoughts and desires. We get so wrapped up in our own abilities and life that we can often find ourselves telling God how things are going to be.
Okay God I need you to give me a better job so I can earn more money to……..better support my family and give more to the church.
God, I need you to change her/him mind on this. Why can’t they see things my way? I have tried to be patient but it is time that they open their eyes. God, open their eyes to do the right thing.
God you want me to be happy right? This isn’t happy. If you just do this for me everything will be better and we will all be good.
God just make them better. I’ll never ask you for another thing again. Lord just save their life.
We have a plan and if God would just follow that plan then everything would be good. Peter thought he knew how things were supposed to work and Jesus was now deviating from that plan. Peter was trying to bring Jesus back around to his way of thinking.
That is the crazy thing about being a follower of Jesus Christ, it isn’t about our plan it is about his plan. If you would have told me in high school that I would be in ministry I wouldn’t have totally discounted it. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve told Jesus how to fix things in the ministry that I was involved in. This isn’t the way things are supposed to happen. Kids aren’t supposed to hurt, their parents aren’t supposed to die, they shouldn’t be depressed. God if you would just do this or that or make this person change their mind on this or that then I could be successful and give you the glory.
I can tell you it doesn’t work that way. When I tell Jesus how he needs to do his job then that takes away his supremacy and his authority and Jesus becomes nothing more than I genie in a lamp that I rub when I need something.
The disciples didn’t understand the kingdom that Jesus was coming to set up. Jesus came to establish his kingdom in heaven. Jesus knows what is best. Jesus knows how things are going to work. When I tell him how it’s going to go then I try to become God and I become a stumbling block.
Didn’t Jesus already face a similar situation? In Matthew 4, Jesus is tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Remember the last temptation that Satan threw at Jesus. In verse 8 it says
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.
Did he really have the power to give Jesus all these things? Not really but he was trying to tempt Jesus into taking the world as a political ruler. Take it Jesus right now. Jesus kingdom was bigger as he was sent to save all mankind from their sin. He was there to follow his father’s plan and if Satan could not derail him from doing so then neither was Peter.
Disciples were supposed to follow behind their teacher and Jesus was putting Peter back into his place and unfortunately God has to call us out and put us back into our places too. Our desires are not always God’s desires and Jesus gets right to it with his disciples. He lets them know right away that he means business.
When Jesus tells them to take up their cross and follow him it got serious and real right now. They all knew about the Roman torture tool of the cross. Jesus was definitely getting their attention.
Has Jesus gotten your attention? Do you really understand what it means to follow Jesus? Peter and the rest of the disciples got a crash course. Things were not going to go as they wanted. It was going to be a bumpy ride. I’m not really sure the disciples still grasped the enormity of the challenge that lay ahead of them.
Do we get it? What is the goal in our society today? To get rich. It used to be work hard and you could achieve your goals and get rich. Now somehow it has turned into let someone else work hard and give you all that you want. Both of these are Peter views. It isn’t about what you want. It is about what God wants.
I don’t know about you but there are times where I have a really hard time accepting what God wants for me. God promised the disciples though and he promises us that listen if you lose your life for me. If you give up your goals and listen to mine you will actually find your life, might that be your calling.
Are you listening to God or are you to busy telling him how it should be. Remember last week the 11 disciples sat in the boat waiting for Jesus to come to them. Get out of the boat, step out into the storm. Get ready to get tossed about.
Remember your end goal is not found in this world. It is not how much money, fortune or fame you can attain. It is are you following Jesus? Are you spreading his good news? Delayed gratification. Why????
Verse 27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” We are not works based but when we let Jesus lead our lives we will do all we can to serve him and great will be our reward. Amen
