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St Matthew 16:21-26
Matins
15th Sunday After Pentecost, 2005
Hope Lutheran Church, Aurora, CO
Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Dear People of God,
The Gospel text before us this morning is a wonderful, but somewhat terrifying text. If last week we rejoiced as the Lord commended St Peter and blessed him and gave him the wonderful gifts, what do we make of it, this week, when the Lord says to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan”? What brought upon Peter such a sharp rebuke? Let's look at the text.
In the verses just before our reading this morning Jesus had asked the disciples who people thought He was. “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” [16:14] “But who do you all say that I am?” Jesus asked, and Peter, given the answer from the Father, answers for them all, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” [16:16]
Peter gets it right, right from the Father, Jesus is the Christ. Christos is a Greek word meaning 'anointed'. The Hebrew is 'Messiah', and the Messiah is what the Old Testament is all about; it is full, from Genesis to Malachi, of promises concerning the Coming One, the Messiah, the One who would bring salvation and deliverance and the forgiveness of all sins. All of the worship of the Old Testament pointed to this Coming One, the Messiah. Most all of the animal sacrifices which God appointed pointed to the spilt blood and the self-sacrificing death of the Coming One, the Messiah.
The Old Testament church of God was a waiting church, waiting for none other that the Coming One, the Messiah. But now, standing in front of Peter and the other disciples, He's here. “Who do you say that I am?” “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Do you see how much is in that confession. Peter is saying that all of our hopes are met, the years and years, thousands of years of waiting are over. The Coming One, the Messiah, He is here. Jesus is the Christ.
Peter is right about who Jesus is, that He is the Christ, the Messiah. But there is still more to learn. In Jesus' day, popular opinion concerning the work of the Messiah had grown farther and farther from the truth of the Scriptures.
Instead of looking for a Suffering Servant, they were looking for a conquering king.
Instead of looking for a Sacrificial Lamb, they were looking for a powerful ruler.
Instead of looking for the Prince of Peace, the were looking for a political powerhouse.
Instead of looking for the cross, they were looking for glory, and splendor, and might.
And so it was necessary for the Lord Jesus to teach the disciples about the work of the Messiah. This is where the reading began this morning [Matthew 16:21], “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day.”
Now this sound nothing like the Messiah for which they hoped. Suffer many things? Be rejected? [see Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22] Be killed? What about conquering? What about throwing off the oppressive Roman government? What about military might and an earthly kingdom of peace and prosperity?
That was the Messiah that Peter expected, that the Jews at that time expected; and this is the Messiah that the sinful flesh always wants: a messiah that's strong, that's powerful, an “awesome God” that reigns with an iron fist, a messiah that gives earthly peace and prosperity.
Our sinful desire for this type of Messiah won't abide with Jesus' words, that He must suffer and die. And so Peter, now the spokesman for the sinful flesh, takes Jesus aside, and, the text says, “Rebuked Him, saying, 'Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You.'” [16:22] Far be it for You to suffer. Far be it for You to die.
But to this Jesus responds and rebukes Peter with the strongest words, words that make us jump, these terrifying words, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men.” [16:23]
Peter wants the Christ without the cross, the Savior without suffering. But the Lord Jesus will not have it. He will allow nothing and no one to separate Him for His cross. For the cross is the purpose and goal of Jesus' coming, the purpose and goal of His incarnation and life. I've heard it said that there was an ancient legend in the church that the cross was cut from the same tree as the trough in which Jesus was laid in the manger. While most likely not historically accurate, it does capture the idea that Jesus was born to die. The shadow of the cross stretches all the way to Bethlehem, to the manger, to Christmas. Jesus took upon Himself flesh to be torn and blood to be spilt. He became a man so that He might die for us, for our sins, and make atonement for us. He suffered in our place; the hell that we deserve, He got. And all of this, not because we deserved it or earned it, but out of His grace and His great love for us.
There is no Christ with out the cross, and anything that tries to drive a wedge between Jesus and the cross is demonic, the work of the devil, an attempt to undermine the Lord's dearest desire: to win your salvation. Jesus is sent to the destroy the devil, and with the devil are destroyed all wicked and evil ideas of the Messiah, that He shouldn't suffer but reign, that He should have the kingdoms of this world.
“My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus says [John 18:36], it is not a kingdom built by strength or might or armies or political power, but a kingdom established by death, even the death on the cross; a kingdom built with the weakness of the Word, preaching and teaching. A kingdom that grows with water and is protected with Body and Blood. A kingdom of suffering and mocking and rejection and crucifixion and death. This is Jesus' kingdom, this is His church, this, dear people, is what we are.
We are, praise God, in Jesus' kingdom, in His church. And so we follow a King with a cross and a crown of thorns. Our way is no different. “If anyone desires to come after Me,” says Jesus, “let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” [16:24] Just as Christ is not separated from the cross, neither are Christians. Far from being a life of earthly victory and prosperity, our Christian lives are lives of suffering, being rejected, and dying. Just as Jesus came in weakness, so we too are weak, often frail, having nothing to boast of save Jesus, and His cross.
If you have the idea that the Christian life is without suffering, and that if you believe in Jesus you will be rich, healthy and happy all the time... Repent. This is the wrong Jesus. Jesus comes with the cross, and Lord forbid we try to find Him apart from it. For there, there on the cross, the Lord Jesus died for you, spilt His blood for you, won for you, each and every one of you, life, salvation, and the forgiveness of all of your sins.
And so Jesus is teaching us that is was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem, and suffer, and die. At this teaching we rejoice, for we know that He did all of this for us, that we might spend eternity with Him in the endless joy and bliss of heaven.
May the Lord continue to cast Satan behind us, so that we rejoice in Jesus and His cross, both today and forever more. Amen.
And now may the peace that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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