As we heard last week, being one of Jesus’ disciples on the ground with him was not an easy thing. You never knew what he was going to say or do next. From easy questions, to hard ones, he kept his disciples on their toes!! Of course, they were delighted to be in his company, this great teacher and healer, and Peter had just said what they were all thinking, but were afraid to say out loud. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” And Jesus confirmed this!! He was the Messiah, the hope of Israel. Somehow, maybe soon, he was going to get rid of the foreign oppressive government. He would be the king of Israel, the king like David. Surely the revolution was about to begin!! Or at the very least God was going to do something spectacular. The Day of the Lord was near. Israel would once again be great. And the disciples would be right there in the middle of it all. And Peter, Peter was thinking about what Jesus had said: You are rock, and on this rock I will build my church. Wow!! Pretty heady stuff for a Galilean fisherman.
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. I’m sure Jesus was reluctant to tell his followers what was going to happen, but after Peter’s confession he felt he could speak freely, and he could explain to the disciples what was ahead. This is his first prediction of what was to come, his impending death at the hand of the officials in Jerusalem. It was also the first clear prediction of his resurrection, but I don’t think the disciples, I don’t think Peter, heard that part.
Peter, never one to think before speaking, blurted out, “God forbid!!” That can’t be the way it is. What in the world was Jesus thinking? What about the new Israel, our hopes and dreams for liberation? What about God’s promises? What about the prophecies? No way!! It can’t be like that, and I won’t let it. Surely we can avoid Jerusalem. It’s a big world, isn’t it? You don’t have to go, we will protect you. You are the Messiah, you said so yourself, and we will keep you safe from harm. Just don’t go to Jerusalem. We want a triumphant Messiah, not a suffering servant!! We want the Son of the Living God, not a dead Messiah! That can’t be right, that can’t be the plan! This must never happen to you!!
This must have been a strong, attractive temptation for Jesus, and his response is harsh: “Get behind me Satan!! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Peter in an instant went from right to wrong, from hero to goat, from rock to stumbling block. As the tempter’s voice now, Peter is fully human, looking at things from a human perspective.
He may have gotten carried away with his own significance in understanding Jesus’ identity and mission, which made him vulnerable to Satan’s temptation. He undoubtedly thinks he is protecting Jesus. But as one commentator notes, “Jesus recognizes here His old enemy in a new and even more dangerous form. For none are more formidable instruments of temptation than well-meaning friends, who care more for our comfort than for our character.”[1]
Friends also care about their own comfort, their own expectations and hopes and dreams. They can’t see the big picture. They can’t see what must happen for God’s plans to be accomplished, for the grace and glory that is to come.
Jesus then addresses all of his disciples. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” More hard sayings!! In the first century, the cross symbolized crucifixion, a feared and repulsive form of execution, and it was a horribly painful and slow way to die. The Jews viewed crucifixion as a terrible, shameful way to die. It must have been shocking to the disciples to hear that the cross is an image of discipleship!! What??!! If you want to be my disciples, you must be willing to die with me, you must be willing to risk your neck for me, you must follow me to the cross, to the death
For Jesus, the road to the cross was the road of obedience to the Father. It is the central purpose for his life, the reason for which the Son of the Living God took on human flesh. For those who would follow Jesus, the cross is likewise a metaphor for obedience, for surrendering and dying to their own wills, and yielding to the Father’s will.
. “For those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Those who hang on to their own life and their own desires and reject God’s plans for their life will lose that which they are trying to protect. Disciples are those who will risk their lives, surrender their own wills and accept God’s will, and the result is life eternal, life in the kingdom of heaven.
“For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?” All the riches, pleasures, material goods, worldly powers, are temporal at best, and will not do anyone any good if they sacrifice their relationship with God in order to pursue theses things. True riches, true wealth, are found in the kingdom of heaven, in following Jesus to the cross. The condition of our souls is far more important than the condition of our pocketbooks. Paul understood that when he said in Philippians (chapter 3):
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
Jesus continues, “for the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.” When the Son of Man comes in glory, there will be an accounting of what each person has done, whether or not they have responded to Jesus. Judgment is coming, and the disciples—and we—will be held accountable.
This whole account seems far removed from our reality, doesn’t it. After all, we can’t follow Jesus to the cross? For most of us, following Jesus doesn’t involve the loss of life. We aren’t likely to be crucified. And yet, the cross is still central to our lives. A symbol of shame and cruelty has become a symbol of beauty, love, and worship. The cross is the center of Christian architecture. And it must be central in our minds as we follow Jesus. The cross represents self-denial, sacrifice, and service, all of which are part and parcel of being a Christian. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Harold Ockenga, an evangelical leader and author of the 20th century, says this:
The surrender of self to this principle is the greatest obstacle to our sanctification, our spiritual attainment and love, our exercise of power and our exhibition of holiness. Self does not want us to surrender. We believers pamper self, are proud of self, pity self, and seek self’s interest, which is the exact opposite of such service. Yet contemporary life demands redemptive living, Unless such self-denial are exhibited in the field of missions, evangelism, social service humanitarianism, the Christian testimony will be invalidated.[2]
Our pattern and guide in this Christian life is Jesus himself, Jesus who said “Follow me.” He led by teaching, ministering, healing, and above all by serving, by laying down his life for his friends and for us. He is our example. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was killed because of his opposition to the Nazi regime in Germany in the last century, said that “when Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.” Bonhoeffer lived for Christ, and died for Christ, and we are called to be willing to do the same, to identify ourselves with Christ and his cross. We are to die to self, to die to self will, self interest. We are called to lose our lives in Christ, in our identification with Jesus. In truth, at our baptisms we died with Christ, and now we are dead to self, to sin, and alive to Christ. We now live in Christ, our lives our hidden with Christ, and we spend our lives denying ourselves and growing into this “in Christ” life, this kingdom life. “Come and die.”
[1] Wilkins, Michael J. The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew. Zondervan, 571.
[2] Ockenga, Harold J. Power though Pentecost. Eerdman’s, 1959, p.119-20.
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