The Mystery of the Cross

When Jesus tells his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem where he will suffer, be killed, and raised to new life on the third day in this morning’s Gospel lesson (Matthew 16:21-28, Proper 17, Year A), Peter rebukes him and says, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” Jesus’s response is shocking—“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 is tempting Jesus in the same way that Satan did in the wilderness to turn away from the very thing that brings about the redemption of the world.

I have been known to say that Peter gets the answer exactly right when he confesses that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of the living God but exactly wrong when he says the Passion “must never happen.” If I’m honest, though, all of us would have reacted the same way Peter did. We don’t want to see Jesus go to Jerusalem to suffer and die even though we profess faith that his death was not the end of the story. Jesus was raised to new life on the third day, and that makes all the difference for us and for the whole world.

We all seem to want a way to resurrection that doesn’t involve the cross. We do our best to root our salvation in ethics, morality, good works, or any number of other things that we can control, but the simple truth is that new life follows death to the old life. We don’t get to Easter Sunday without Good Friday. Jesus says as much to his disciples after his exchange with Peter. If we want to follow Jesus, then we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. We lose our live when we try to hold on to it, but we find life eternal in Jesus when we are willing to lose our attachment to the old life, the old way, and all the things that keep us from entering fully into God’s grace and love. What might we have to let die in order to live the abundant life that Jesus calls us to?

Peace,

Jeff+