Peter: What Can We Learn From Peter's Life?નમૂનો

"Get Behind Me, Satan!"

Twice now, we have seen Peter use bold words – committing himself to attempt walking on water, and also declaring that Jesus was both the Messiah and the Son of God. Today we see him use bold words again, but this time they get him in trouble.

To this point, Jesus had said very little about His full mission on earth. He was healing and teaching, demonstrating what the Kingdom of God looked like and declaring its arrival. However, His plan to allow Himself to be killed by those who opposed Him, and then to be raised from the dead after three days, had not yet been fully explained. After Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah, and Son of the Living God, Jesus began speaking plainly about His future.

Peter and the disciples were excited about who Jesus was. They were thrilled at the arrival of the Messiah, thinking that it was finally time for them to gain freedom from their oppressors and find eternal peace as a nation. The notion that their Messiah would actually be killed by His enemies was completely opposite of what they believed He would accomplish. It sounded weak and ineffectual. They did not understand that Jesus wanted so much more for them than just political freedom. They seemed not to have noticed that Jesus also said He would rise from the dead – they were so shocked by the idea He would be killed.

And so, Peter did what seems unthinkable to us – he actually rebuked Jesus! Peter told Jesus, whom he had just confessed was God, that He was wrong. Jesus had sharp, stinging words for him, going so far as to refer to Peter as Satan. Satan would have been doing his best to stop Jesus from getting to the cross, knowing that Jesus’s death would end up in his own ultimate defeat. Peter did not yet understand why Jesus needed to die, and became an unwitting mouthpiece for Satan who did not want Jesus to fulfil His mission. Jesus clearly challenged Peter to set his mind on God’s plans and purposes, not on what appeared most right to his human mind.

Reflection:

Is there a situation in your life, right now, where your mind is more set on the things of man than the things of God? Ask God to help shift your perspective.