I've entered into the stage of life called grand parenting. I've observed that my kids don't parent
the way I did, and at first this was a little disconcerting. But I thought, you know, I didn't
parent the way my parents did, so I decided to do a little research. What are these modern parenting
experts saying today? And some of what I read seemed a little naive, a little overreaction to
the previous generation, as it always is. But other things I read, I thought, this would have been
helpful to have known 30 years ago. There's actually some decent stuff. One popular parenting
expert today, one of her phrases is, two things are true. For example, when your toddler morphs
from adorable to demon-like in a split second, you may wonder, who is this child?
And 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, inheriting a sin nature that is in rebellion against God. Two things are true.
In the Gospel reading today, we find two things are true on full display in the life of Peter.
Last week, when Jesus asked the disciples who they thought that he was, Peter responded
before the other disciples and confessed that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jesus honors Peter's response. He says, you are blessed. For Peter did not arrive at this
conclusion through human reason, but it was revealed to him by his Father in heaven.
It's no wonder some have taken this account to attempt to elevate Peter above the other disciples
and to place him in a special position. But we keep reading the text and we see Peter isn't put
forth as the leader of the disciples, but as the representative of the disciples,
and not just 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. 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 die. Suffering and death had no place
in Peter's understanding of the Christ. Now, to us, that sounds crazy. How could Peter not know
that the Christ had to die on the cross for sinners? Surely Peter would have heard of the
suffering of the Christ in Isaiah 53, where Isaiah tells us that he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins, beaten so we could be whole. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
No one cared that his life was cut short in midstream. It's clear to us that the Christ
must suffer and die before rising. But we live on this side of the cross.
Put yourself in Peter's sandals. You're God's chosen people. You live in the promised land.
But the glory of Israel has faded. You live under Roman occupation.
Taxes are high. Godliness is low. Compromise is everywhere. You go to the synagogue. You
hear the scriptures that promise that one day the Christ will come and deliver his people.
Maybe you don't listen all the way to Isaiah 53. You stop at Isaiah 9. Speak of what Isaiah 9 says
of the Christ. It says the Christ will enlarge the nation of Israel and its people will rejoice.
For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.
You will break the oppressor's rod. 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 the Christ says he's going to suffer and die,
if you're Peter, you object. You know Isaiah 9. You know that's not how it goes with the Christ.
And we're reminded that two things are true.
The Christ will rule and 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 understood the one, but not the other. Peter never pauses to consider that if perhaps
there was more to the Christ than he understood, even as the Christ was there explaining to him
what must happen. And so we read 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 show Peter Isaiah 53 and explain things one more time.
He delivers the sharpest rebuke imaginable. But he turned and said to Peter,
get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me.
Why so sharp a rebuke? How can it be that Peter can be blessed with a revelation from the Father
that enables him to confess that Jesus is the Christ? And moments later, it appears
be on the side of Satan. There's a clue in the physical action taking place.
I imagine Jesus on his way to Jerusalem with his disciples following. But when he says he
must suffer and die, Peter pulls him aside, pulls him off the road to have a word with him.
In Mark's account of this event, Mark says he Jesus turns back and sees his disciples
and delivers a rebuke to Peter as he returns to his path and the journey to Jerusalem.
Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem, to the cross,
and Peter pulls him aside. Peter has come between Jesus and the cross.
That was Satan's strategy in tempting Jesus in the wilderness.
Satan promised Jesus fulfillment and power and honor and glory 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.
Certainly not standing between Jesus and the cross. Jesus goes on to say,
for 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 the true king who would set all things right.
But he was wrong for demanding that God's promise be fulfilled
in the way that he imagined and for his benefit. By setting his mind on the things of man,
he missed Jesus's 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? Is he Peter the Great, blessed with a revelation from the Father,
first to confess Jesus as the Christ? Or is he Peter the traitor who joins Satan?
And seeking to block Jesus from the fulfillment of his mission to suffer and die and be raised.
Two things are true. Peter is saint and sinner, blessed by Jesus, broken by sin,
enlightened by a revelation of God, blinded by a mind set on the things of man.
Two things are true. He's saint and sinner. Those same two things are true of you and me.
We're saint and sinner. We're saints baptized into Christ, forgiven and blessed with the Holy Spirit.
And we're sinners whose sinful flesh is set on the things of man.
And we too, like Peter, can imagine a Christian faith without a cross. Of course, we know the
cross is necessary for Jesus and for to die on, for our forgiveness. But that's all past.
Now that we're on Team Jesus, now that we attend church and read our Bibles and pray and
well, the sinful flesh of us expect some assurance that we'll escape the sufferings of this life.
With enough faith, some claim, we can rise above the troubles of this world.
And when we do that, when we imagine a Christian life without a cross,
we follow in the steps of Satan, bypassing God's ways, seeking God's blessing outside of God's will.
Jesus is not gentle in his rebuke of Peter, but even in his rebuke, there's a word of gospel.
Jesus tells Peter, get behind me. I'm not going to allow you to block my path to my destiny
in Jerusalem to fulfill what the Father has given me to do. Get behind me. But it wasn't be gone.
But it wasn't be gone. That was his rebuke to Satan in the wilderness.
It wasn't take time out to think about what you've done.
It wasn't go sit on the bench until you can prove you're ready.
It was simply get behind me. What you do when you're behind Jesus, you follow, you follow him.
That was Jesus's first call to Peter at the lake when he dropped his nets. Jesus said, follow me.
And now, in spite of Peter losing his mind, setting his mind on the things of men,
Jesus again calls him, follow me. Jesus goes on to explain what this means.
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
Deny yourself. Daily remember your baptism, dying to sin through confession and being raised to new
life by God's forgiveness. We confess that we are not the leader. We're the students who have much
to learn. We don't trust in our own reasoning, but we hear the word and we trust the revelation.
Of God that Christ finished work for our salvation is enough.
We take up our cross because Christ has suffered for us. We have no fear of death.
There was definitely crossed Christ, defeated death. The grave has become a passageway to life
forever. We gladly lose our lives in this world because we have, we know we have life forever.
And the next. And again, Jesus says, follow me. We get behind Jesus, following him step by step,
wherever he leads. Even when it leads to a cross, we follow with the assurance
that though we suffer in this life, we never suffer alone for the one who has suffered for us,
for us promises to always be with us. He'll get us through every trial. He'll deliver us safely home.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor in Germany.
In the days when Hitler rose to power.
Said this about following Jesus, he said, 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.
This spoken by a man whose friends and colleagues urged him to leave Germany as Hitler took power
while there was still time for his life was in danger for he had spoken against the new regime.
Bonhoeffer came to America to teach at Union Seminary. He lasted all of six weeks.
After six weeks, he felt compelled to follow Jesus
back to Germany to be with his brothers, even if it meant suffering.
He led an underground seminary. He opposed Hitler, and ultimately he died in a concentration camp.
He suffered greatly. And yet Bonhoeffer concludes.
To follow Jesus is to be on a path full of mercy beyond measure that discipleship is joy.
Discipleship is joy. How can that be? Two things are true.
Following Jesus will involve suffering in this life. And yet following Jesus,
we find joy even in the suffering, knowing that it's only for a time that he has ultimately
suffered the ultimate price for us, that we may be with him forever, one day.
Let us follow him, we pray.
Father, these are hard words. These are challenging words. And yet we see you do not call us
to go anywhere that the Christ has not already gone for us. For Jesus has walked the path of
suffering. Jesus has entered death for us. And Jesus has risen so that we, too, may rise again.
Father, increase our faith that step by step we may follow you through this life wherever
you may lead, trusting in the goodness of your heart, your tender compassion,
your wise will. Father, give us faith to simply follow you. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
I invite you to please rise.