(Text Only)
Title: From That Time
How many of you have ever heard a story that goes something like this: “And Billy stood up to Jimmy, punched him square in the jaw, and after that, Jimmy never bullied Jimmy again…”
Or how about this one:
“Those men who came back from the battle were never the same again…”
Or how about my personal favorite:
“And the Browns won the Superbowl, and Pastor Ben slept that night like he’d never slept before.”
(I didn’t say all these examples were non-fiction.)
All of these microcosmic example have a theme in common: In each of them something happens that alters the course of the story and the behavior of the characters within that story.
Two weeks ago, when we were last in the Gospel of Matthew, we talked about the importance of what we call Peter’s Great Confession. Today we will see yet another layer of importance to this story because Matthew uses Peter’s Confession as a turning point in the ministry of Jesus.
In other words, what Peter says is so important, that Matthew uses it as a benchmark to show the shift in who Jesus is teaching to, what he’s teaching about, and finally, what Jesus himself actually does.
(read/pray)
- “From that time”
Matthew is using a framing technique as he moves into the final section of his Gospel. Matthew notes that it is after the event of Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ that two new things begin to happen at this point in his ministry. One is obvious from the text, the other can only bee seen with a wide lens view of this Gospel as a whole.
Two things change at this point in the Gospel of Matthew:
- Jesus slowly begins to reveal to the apostles the concept of “roles.”
- The Christ mission is to die and rise again
- The apostle’s mission to carry on the Church for the next generation.
- The focus of Jesus’s preaching turns from the general public to the careful and private instruction directly to the apostles.
So the question becomes:
Why has Jesus hidden his mission from his apostles until now? (Take answers)
- They were not spiritually mature enough to grasp it. (Consider Peter’s gut reaction.)
- Now that the public portion of Jesus’s teaching was wrapping up, Jesus turned his attention to preparing the apostles for what they were called to do.
- He knew their reaction would be shock and resistance, once he comments on his destiny they are going to need to see something that will remind them of exactly what Jesus is…anyone know what that is?
II. Peter’s Rebuke
Peter often gets a bad reputation for sticking his foot in his mouth, but I’m not sure that this is entirely fair to Peter. I think in most cases Peter just says and does what the other apostles are thinking, but are too timid to do.
Perhaps Peter has learned a bit of a lesson with his past mistakes because we see that Matthew records the account by saying that “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.”
This wasn’t a public rebuke, it was either private or at least semi-private. So let’s take a look at Peter’s actual words and see what he might be suggesting:
“Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to you!”
Possible readings:
- “Lord I (we) won’t let this happen to you!” (We will die for you.)
- “Lord, you are too powerful for anyone to kill you!” (What power can prevail against the Messiah?)
In response to number 1: Jesus agrees. In the very next passage (Matthew 16:24-28) Jesus instructs the disciples to lose their life for the sake of Jesus, and they all will, one way or another. Jesus is even very specific about the types of deaths some of them will suffer for him.
In response to number 2: Peter is absolutely correct. John 10:18 “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
- Jesus’ Counter-Rebuke
“Get behind me SATAN! You are an OFFENSE to me, for YOU are not mindful of the things of God, but of the THINGS OF MEN.”
Now, obviously I capitalized four key words/phrases for a purpose here…to help us better understand what Jesus is saying, and why he’s being so seemingly harsh in his snap response to Peter.
Anyone want to take a stab and what the connection is between all of these capitalized letters here?
- Satan is offensive to God.
- Because he gets in the minds of men and makes MEN more important than GOD.
Boy, does that sum up our sin or what? We rightly say that pride is the root of all sin, and we can see why from Jesus’s rebuke here. Peter thinks he knows best when he says that it would be bad for Jesus to die.
But Peter would learn, over time, the truth that I hope we have all come to realize as well:
The best thing that has ever happened to the human race was the death of Jesus Christ. The worst thing that could have happened to the human race would be if he’d remained dead.
But he didn’t. That’s our confession. And it has changed everything. And if you believe that fact, and confess that fact in you heart, the only logical next step is to share that fact with others.
Pray