Grace and peace to you from God our Father in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You know, as I have become a grandparent, it's been a delight and a head-scratcher.
I look at my kids raising their kids and I think, what are you doing? This is not how you were raised.
The Lord quickly reminded me that I did not raise my kids the way I was raised.
And that sent me on a search to think, you know, perhaps we've learned something in the last 30 years that could be helpful in parenting.
And in fact, I've read some contemporary parenting experts and some of it seems like an overreaction.
And some of it I think, wow, I wish I would have known this 30 years ago.
One of the most popular experts today has a phrase that she uses often.
She says, two things are true. Two things are true.
For example, when your toddler morphs from an adorable child to a demon-like spirit in under six seconds,
you may wonder, who is this child?
Well, theologically, we would say two things are true.
Your child is made in the image of God, redeemed in the waters of baptism, filled with the Holy Spirit.
And your child is a son of Adam or a daughter of Eve, who has inherited a sin nature that is in rebellion against God.
Two things are true.
In our gospel reading today, we certainly see that on full display.
Two things are true.
Last week, when Jesus asked the disciples who they say he was, Peter responded first.
He says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.
Jesus honors Peter for his response.
He says, blessed are you.
For Peter did not figure this out using his own reason, but in fact, received a revelation from God.
It's no wonder that some have taken that account and sought to elevate Peter to a position of leadership over the other disciples.
As we keep reading the text, we arrive at today's gospel reading, and we see that Peter isn't put forth as the leader above the others,
but simply the one who stands in as representative, not just of the disciples, but of all people, including you and me.
Our text begins in Matthew 16, verse 21.
From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed.
And on the third day, be raised.
Jesus says he must go to Jerusalem.
He must suffer.
He must be killed.
He must be raised.
I suspect Peter never heard the be raised part.
He couldn't get beyond a Christ who would suffer and be killed.
Suffering and dying had no place in Peter's understanding of the Christ.
To us, that may seem puzzling.
How could Peter not know that the Christ had to die on the cross for sinners?
Surely Peter would have heard of Old Testament passages such as Isaiah 53, which speaks of the Christ suffering for our rebellion, being crushed for our sins, being beaten, being led like a lamb to the slaughter, having his life cut down halfway.
It's clear to us that the Christ has to suffer and die before rising.
But, of course, we live on this side of the cross.
Put yourself in Peter's sandals.
You're the chosen people of God living in the promised land.
And yet the glory of Israel has faded.
You live under the Roman occupation.
Taxes are high.
Godliness is low and compromise is everywhere.
You go to the synagogue.
You hear the scriptures read.
You hear the promise that one day the Christ will come and he will make all things right.
You hear Isaiah 9 speak of one who will come who will enlarge the nation of Israel, causing its people to rejoice.
You will read of the Christ who will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.
You will read of the Christ on whom the government will rest on his shoulders and its peace will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.
So when Jesus, the Christ, says he's going to suffer and die, Peter objects.
He knows Isaiah 9.
He knows this is not how it goes with the Christ.
But we see that two things are true.
The Christ will rule.
He will bring prosperity and all earthly kingdoms will bow down to him.
And the Christ will suffer and be killed and be raised from the dead for our salvation.
Peter has half the story, but he never pauses to consider if perhaps there was more to the Christ than he understood.
And so Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you.
Jesus doesn't sit Peter down and show him Isaiah 53 and explain to him one more time.
He delivers the sharpest rebuke imaginable.
Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan.
You are a hindrance to me.
That's a sharp rebuke.
How can Peter be blessed with a revelation from the Father that allows him to confess that Jesus is Christ and moments later be found on the side of Satan?
There's a clue in the physical action taking place in this text.
I envision that Jesus has now made the turn to walk to Jerusalem with his disciples in tow.
And as he explains to them what awaits him in Jerusalem, Peter, we're told, took him aside, pulled him off the road, squared him up, looked in his face and told him this would never be.
In Mark's account of this event, we're told that Jesus turned back and saw the disciples.
And at this point, he rebukes Peter.
Get behind me, Satan.
You're a hindrance to me.
And I imagine Jesus returns to the road, returns and continues his journey to Jerusalem.
Jesus is on his way to the cross.
When Peter pulls him aside, pulls him off that path, Peter places himself between Jesus and the cross.
That was Satan's strategy when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness.
Satan promised Jesus fulfillment, power, fame.
It would all be his if only he would skip the cross.
It's devilish to stand between Jesus and the cross.
And so Jesus tells Peter he's in the wrong place.
His place is behind Jesus, following, not in front, trying to lead.
And certainly not between Jesus and the cross that his father has called him to bear.
Jesus continues and says, you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.
Peter wasn't wrong for hoping for the coming of a king who would set all things right.
He was wrong for demanding that God's promise be fulfilled in the way he imagined at the time he demanded.
By setting his mind on the things of man, he missed Jesus' revelation of what it means to be the Christ.
And he found himself working on the side of Satan.
So what do we make of Peter?
In one scene, he's Peter the Great, blessed with a revelation from the Father, the first to confess Jesus as the Christ among all the disciples.
And a moment later, he's Peter the traitor who joins Satan in blocking Jesus from the fulfillment of his mission to suffer and die and be raised from the dead.
What do we make of Peter?
Two things are true.
Peter is saint and sinner.
Blessed by Jesus, broken by sin.
Enlightened by a revelation from God, blinded by a mind set on the things of man.
Peter is saint and sinner.
Two things are true, and two things are true for you and me.
We too are saints, baptized into Christ, forgiven and blessed with the Holy Spirit, and sinners with a sinful flesh set on the things of man.
We too, like Peter, can imagine a Christianity without a cross to bear.
Of course, we know the cross is necessary for Jesus to suffer and die so that our sins can be forgiven.
But there's a temptation to think that now that we're on Team Jesus, now that we go to church, now that we read God's Word, now that we pray our prayers,
surely there's some assurance that we will be spared from some of the suffering of this life.
There are those who will teach, if you just have enough faith, you can rise above the troubles of this world.
It's a demand for heaven now.
Not that God has not promised to wipe away every tear, but it's a demand to do what God has promised in the here and now.
And when we do that, we follow in the steps of Satan, seeking to bypass God's ways, seeking God's blessings outside of God's will.
Jesus is not gentle in his rebuke of Peter, but in that rebuke is hidden a gospel word.
When Jesus tells Peter, get behind me, he's clear that he's not going to allow Peter to keep him from his destiny.
But it wasn't be gone, which is what Jesus spoke to Satan in the wilderness.
It wasn't you're in time out to think about what you've done.
It wasn't take a seat on the bench until you can prove you're ready again.
It was simply get behind me.
What do you do when you're behind Jesus?
You follow.
Just as Jesus had first called Peter at the Sea of Galilee to follow him, now he again reminds him, Peter, your place is behind me.
The call is for you to follow me.
And then Jesus explains what it looks like to follow him.
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
To deny the self is to remember daily that we are baptized in our baptized in our baptism.
Our sin is drowned.
As we confess our sins.
And seek God's forgiveness that raises us up to new life.
We confess that we are not the leader.
We are the student and we have much to learn.
We don't trust in our own reasoning or our own feelings, but we trust in the word of God that's been revealed to us.
That Christ's work for us is finished.
He has delivered to us forgiveness in life.
To take up the cross is to embrace that this life is one of many deaths and much suffering.
But to have no fear of death.
For through his death on the cross, Jesus has ended death for all time.
The grave has become a passageway to life eternal.
And so we gladly lose our life in this world knowing we have life forever in the next.
We deny ourselves, we take up our cross and we follow Jesus.
We get behind him and we follow him step by step wherever he leads.
Even when it leads to a cross.
We follow with the assurance that we never suffer alone.
For the one who has suffered the ultimate suffering in dying for our sins has promised to be with us through every trial.
And he's promised to lead us home safely.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor in Germany, a Lutheran pastor, during the time of Hitler's rise to power.
He had warned against Hitler.
And as Hitler solidified his power, Bonhoeffer's life was in danger.
His friends and colleagues urged him to leave Germany, to go to America.
Bonhoeffer lasted six weeks in America.
Compelled by Christ, he followed Christ back to Germany to be with his brothers.
To lead an underground seminary.
To continue to speak out against Hitler.
And ultimately to die in a concentration camp.
Listen to how Bonhoeffer describes what it means to follow Jesus.
He says, only Jesus Christ, who bids us follow him, knows where the path will lead.
But we know that it will be a path full of mercy beyond measure.
Discipleship is joy.
A path of mercy beyond measure, discipleship is joy from a man who suffered and died for his faith in a German concentration camp.
How can this be?
Two things are true.
In this life, following Jesus may very well involve suffering.
But in this life, to follow Jesus is to know a joy and a peace that passes understanding, that will endure forever.
Two things are true.
We're saint and sinner.
Jesus is redeemer and king.
And as we follow Jesus, even in suffering, there's a joy to be found in Jesus' presence.
So let us follow.
We pray.
Father, we're challenged by these difficult words, these challenging words.
And yet we have hope.
For Father, you don't mislead us into thinking this life will somehow be better than it is.
But you tell us the truth that in this life we have suffering.
And yet you promise your presence with us.
Father, help us not to run ahead thinking we know better.
Help us not to lag behind thinking all is lost.
Help us simply to keep in step with Jesus.
That wherever he leads, though we do not know, we know your heart.
For you have made your heart clear at the cross that your heart is good, that your heart is loving, that your heart is faithful.
And so may we have the faith to simply follow step by step, trusting at the end you'll deliver us home.
We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
I invite you to please rise.