Take up the Cross

Matthew 16:24 - Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Jesus is saying here that walking the walk is more important than talking the talk. If I'm honest, I often do not walk the walk. Yet, I continue to try and to do better. Doing things that are difficult, scary or dangerous just for the experience is empty. Doing things that are scary, difficult and dangerous while following Jesus is the essence of our lives as Christians. we all do it well or badly to some degree. The point is to keep trying, to keep denying ourselves things so others might have them, to keep following where we think God is leading.

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On the Side of God

Matthew 16:23 - And he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me since you are not on the side of God but that of men."

Unless we view things from the lens of heaven, we will not be able, as Peter is unable, to understand what Jesus is saying. Peter, as we noted, is thinking of his own future in his body. Jesus is thinking of the future of all - and the fulfillment of God's plan. Peter therefore, doesn't understand and cannot condone what Jesus has said about dying and rising. He only see the failure of Jesus' movement.

So the question we must all ask ourselves is what side are we on? What side do we want to be on? Are they the same side? If not, what can we do to be more fully on God's side? There is no one correct answer as people have different callings. Yet, if we are consistent in our contact with God, discernment will come if we allow it. That is the constant: we must open our hearts to God's healing and plan.
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Peter's Reaction

Matthew 16:22 - And Peter took him aside and rebuked him, saying, "God forbid, Lord, that this should happen to you."

Because what Jesus has just said has dashed Peter's hopes of raising an army to confront Rome. Jesus has just told them that he would be humiliated and die the death of an outcast. How horrifying for Peter to hear that! He left his family and his livelyhood to follow Jesus. It is understandable that he would panic and react. I would too. He is thinking about Israel and Jesus but he is also thinking about himself and his family - what will happen to them?

So, for today I want to think about where I am called and what I am called to do, on the things of heaven. I will admit my panic and feel it and move on.
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Suffering and Death

Matthew 16:21 - From then on he began to show his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, high priests, and scribes, and be put to death and to rise on the third day.

We are sometimes no more ready to hear that our idols are not what they seem than the disciples were to hear this. He is beginning to teach them explicitly that he is not an earthly messiah come to rescue Israel from Roman occupation. His mission is more far reaching than that. His is a spiritual mission: to turn the people back toward God, to repent and believe that the kin-dom is near. This is so different from what they were expecting that they (and we, really) cannot really wrap their minds around it.

We as humans have a difficult time believing in visions that go beyond what we can see with our own eyes. In the same way, the disciples were focused on earthly matters. Our challenge, today as always, is to refocus our perspective and our attention on God and what God is asking from us today.

Can we believe that God suffers and dies with us? What does this belief require of us?
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Knowledge

Matthew 16:20 - Then he strictly charged them not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

This seems odd on the surface. Why wouldn't he want people to know? It seems he would want to convert - and to be able to love - as many people as possible. That is human thinking.

Two things come to me when I think of this passage. First, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. If people knew, they would expect more from him than he was able to give; like making him king of Israel and revolting against the Romans. He did not do that! Instead, he advocated working with them. His mission as he saw it (at this point) was to come to the Jewish people and turn them back to God.

Second, it wasn't his time. If people knew, the Roman authorities would know and his mission would not be complete. Might he have had a timeline? It is clear that there were certain things he needed to accomplish before his death. He knew he would be executed - yet, he wanted to make sure his people, his disciples were strong enough to continue. Therefore, it wasn't time. And in the fullness of time, he is indeed revealed.
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Binding and Loosing

Matthew 16:19 - 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.

So, when I used to read this, I would think about binding prisoners and loosing them; making laws binding on all or loosing them. But I have begun to think about binding and loosing differently: Isaiah talks about binding our wounds - God binding our wounds. What we bind down here is bound in heaven. When we heal others, we heal them for eternity. The same goes with loosing - loosing/loosening the bonds that hold people to addiction, slavery, oppression.

We have a long way to go on both counts. It's time for me to take this verse more seriously. What can I bind or loosen today?
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The Rock

Matthew 16:18 - And I say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.

The thing I especially like about this passage is that the rock that is built upon is part of the foundation; the part that is not shown to the world but rather does the behind the scenes work. I think it is one more way in which Jesus is telling Peter and the disciples and all of us that our own glory is not important. It is the glory of God that is to be proclaimed and shown to the world. Such a different perspective from the world's perspective of "making our mark."
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Blessed

Matthew 16:17 - And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you but rather my father in heaven."

This is the problem I have with the so-called "Roman Road" to conversion. It is a reasoning into faith, which in my opinion cannot be done. It represents a surety, a certainty that leaves out all struggle and doubt. Doubt is good for faith, we need to have our faith tested - not that God tests us - untested faith cannot grow. Faith is not a proposition to be explained or agreed to; it is a way of life, a new way of seeing and being in the world. It is not just our minds that have to accept; it is our hearts and our spirits. Without that, as Paul wrote, we are nothing but clanging gongs.

Flesh and blood cannot reveal the truth on their own. No amount of reasoning can convince someone to be a Christian without God's help. Only God can speak to a person in such a way that they begin to get an understanding. If we somehow play a small part in someone's journey to faith, it is God leading us. No one can come to the Father except by the father's will. Blessed is the one who hears God's voice and follows.
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Son of the Living God

Matthew 16:16 - And Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ! The Son of the living God."

And all Christians must ask whether we agree. You might think it odd that we wouldn't all automatically agree on this point. Yet, I know people who struggle with this, just as with other aspects of our faith. Following God isn't easy. Acknowledging Jesus as the Christ isn't easy. Sometimes, like faith itself, it is a struggle with rather than an agreeing to. It is easy to go back and forth. The centurion's anguished cry speaks for us all, "I believe; help my unbelief."

We cannot come to faith without God's help. However, we can be assured we have that help - God has called us and God will lead us and help us.
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