From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and legal experts, and that he had to be killed and raised on the third day. Then Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him: “God forbid, Lord! This won’t happen to you.” But he turned to Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stone that could make me stumble, for you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will find them. Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? For the Human One is about to come with the majesty of his Father with his angels. And then he will repay each one for what that person has done. I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see the Human One coming in his kingdom.” (Matthew 16:21-28, CEB)
This is one of the passages I wait for.
And you are probably wondering about that. Jesus calls Peter Satan, or tempter. But before that he tells Peter the proper place.
We see the translation as, “Get behind me, Satan.” When is that really what Jesus says?
A few chapters ago Jesus called the disciples and he said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.” Follow me. ὀπίσω μου, in the Greek, is what Jesus said to the disciples in Matthew 4:19. And that is actually what Jesus says here to Peter. ὀπίσω μου, Get behind, follow me, know you place.
And here though Jesus says, Hold up Peter, This is what has to happen, and maybe what you are saying can happen, but you need to know your place and follow where I am leading. I always like to say that if you can’t see the back of Jesus’ head, then you are in the wrong place. We are not the leader. We are the follower or the mimicker of Jesus. And if we are trying to tell Jesus what to do that would make Jesus the mimicker of us.
So always make sure you have the proper view and follow to share love.
Loving People. Loving God.
aSacredRebel 