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 the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" – Matthew 16.21-22
Sometimes God’s plans and His ways don’t make sense to us. This had to be one of those times.
Starting at this point of His ministry Jesus began to let the disciples know that He had to go to Jerusalem, be killed, and rise the third day.
Peter’s response is not surprising if we put ourselves in their sandals – ‘No way Lord! This will not happen to you!’
It looks like Peter, like so many of us, only heard part of what Jesus said. ‘I have to go to Jerusalem and be killed…’
‘Whoa, wait a second' Peter seems to say, ‘That’s just not going to happen.’
Remember, this was the same man who just before this had told Jesus ‘You are the Christ, the son of the Living Go!’ and now he is contradicting what Jesus said.
Jesus had just praised Peter for his earlier response, but now the response is different – ‘Get behind me Satan! You are an offence to me. You don’t speak of the things of God but of the things of men.’
Before we rush into judgement we need to consider how we deal with things that don’t make any sense in our eyes.
How do you and I respond deep down when we hear things that seem like they can’t possibly be the right thing? When God works and we can’t make sense of it the reason is exactly what Jesus said here – we see things from man’s perspective and not God’s. It is only natural – God’s ways and His thoughts are as high above ours as the heavens are above the earth.
We can’t see things God’s way. That is where faith comes in to play. Faith means that I trust God even when He doesn’t make sense to me.
The other day we went swimming with the grandchildren. I was trying to get AJ to not be afraid of the water. We were in the kiddie pool and about half way down the water goes over his head. I am sure it made no sense to go someplace where the water was going to cover your face. He was hesitant and did not want to go for a long time. When we did he clung to me like a baby koala. Finally he went and even let go of me for a few seconds.
I wanted AJ to trust me. I knew it would be okay. I knew he was safe. I knew it would be good for him not to fear the water. He could not see all that, but eventually he trusted me and we did it.
Sadly, sometimes we never get to the point of trusting God that way. We just sit on the top step and never trust him enough to go out into the water.
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