And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. ~ Mark 8:29, 31
Peter, who declares that Jesus is the son of the living God, now exposes the depth of his own agenda, and his own miscalculation of the immensity of the chasm between God and man.
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ~ Mark 8:32
Peter’s blunder is recorded for all of us to inspect, and as such, he exposes the unfortunate tendencies in my own life. This is the tendency to waste my time trying to figure out what God will, or should do next. While Peter is getting ready to go to Home Depot to select the wood for Jesus’ throne, our Lord is captured by the significance of the impending cross. While Peter is wondering where he’ll fit in the class roster, particularly since he seemed to get an A+ on his last exam, Jesus is emptying Himself.
Over and over the Lord reminds me that those who want to be first have to be prepared to be last. That whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it.
From the head of the class, straight to detention. This is harsh, but true. Sin is costly, and Jesus, the son of the living God, stepped into the vortex of God’s justice, for us, for the sake of love, in obedience to His Father.
Peter, our brother, stepped squarely into the dung heap of self-confidence and in so doing he exposes the stench of pride that swirls in my own walk with Jesus. It is the faithful that Jesus commends, not those that “figure Him out.” There is no puzzle to be completed, there is sin to pay for, and by God’s grace, Jesus did just that. He is indeed, the son of the living God, and He is our Savior.
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