If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me

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!" But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then he will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

- Matthew 16:21-28

In yesterday's reading, Jesus asked His disciples a question: "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" The disciples gave various answers, according to what the crowds believe. Then Jesus asked, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter made his confession of faith, saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said that the Father in heaven revealed this to Peter, and He added: "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." And He commanded His disciples to tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

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. This is quite an extraordinary sentence. One can just imagine the shocked and stunned disciples, unable to comprehend this news -- so shortly after a confirmation that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One! This is a "scandalous" idea -- a stumbling block -- a suffering Messiah! How is it possible that the Anointed One of God shall be killed? Says St. Paul, "For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).

Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" One can only imagine the shock and hurt and incomprehensibility of this news to Peter. He has just made his great confession of faith, only to be told such things will happen to his Master. Can we blame him for his reaction?

But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." While Peter's response is understandable to our eyes, Jesus' response is stern! My study bible notes that "Peter expected Jesus to enter Jerusalem and establish the Kingdom immediately, (as Peter understood it, an earthly, political kingdom), not to go to the Cross and death. Peter thought the Messiah would reign forever, not die. But Jesus was to be a suffering Messiah, a scandalous idea to the Jews." It adds, "Christ did not call Peter Satan to insult him, but to rebuke him for unwittingly serving as a mouthpiece of the devil." Peter is thinking one way, but God's plans are shockingly outside the ordinary, unexpected. We simply don't know and can't predict how God will work in the world; if there is anything this passage tells us, it is that we are the ones who accept, not control. God, in God's revelation, will always work outside of our limited expectations and understanding.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me." Here we come to the real "crux" of discipleship. We don't become disciples of Christ simply for rewards in a conventional sense, but rather to change our lives, to be transformed. Furthermore, this means there will be things we forgo, sacrifices, things we give up in order to receive something better, to be reborn, as Christ will be raised. My study bible's notes are worth quoting throughout this passage. Here, it says, "The cross, a dreaded instrument of Roman punishment, is also a symbol of suffering by Christians in imitation of Christ. Self-denial is for the sake of Christ and the gospel, for a better life; it is not a punitive end in itself." Note that Jesus invites the disciples -- and us -- into imitation of Himself, to be like Him, and to share in His mission.

"For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" Here we have the heart and depth of faith in the gospel, the good news of Christ. We are here to be saved -- but salvation is of a depth of the soul, not merely a temporal life: it includes all of what we are as human beings. It redeems us as children of God. My study bible says that here Jesus states the central paradox of the Christian faith: "In grasping the temporal, we lose the eternal; in sacrificing everything we can know, we gain unimaginable riches. In dying, we live." When we cling too hard to what we think we know, so that we cannot "hear and see" with spiritual eyes and ears, then we lose even what we have. We grow in relationship to God, to Christ, to the Holy Spirit. We will always be taken further in along that road, His Way. But it will mean exchanging "our" way, for something bigger, beyond what we can know of ourselves.

"For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then he will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." My study bible says that seeing Jesus coming in His kingdom may refer to the Transfiguration, which occurs immediately after this, and which we'll read about in Monday's reading. But here, let us consider the kingdom, and a life Jesus holds for us. Some may call this "pie in the sky" -- but the rewards in this life are great. The love of Christ within ourselves is an overflowing reward of exaltation and abundance, something rewarding is present to us even in this life -- even as we celebrate with the angels in heaven. There are times when each of us may feel that we are "surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses," even as we live our worldly lives. Jesus has also promised that we should seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all else will be added unto us.

Today's note about sacrifice and suffering is sometimes hard to find value for in today's world. So much of life seems to be taken up with the good things of a material life. We remember that the world, as created by God, is not just good, but very good. But we are stewards of the world, and our lives are meant to be lived righteously, in right-relatedness, with God and neighbor -- and all else God has placed in our hands. Let us consider the note that Jesus strikes today. It is a shocking one, one that nobody wants to hear: suffering, sacrifice, death. But all else we receive is worth it. We make an exchange. Let us consider the value of humility, because it is only through this capability that we may receive the Good News of Resurrection. We just can't see the things of God that we don't know. In His death and Resurrection, Jesus brings us, in fact, a New Covenant. He reconciles all, and He will undo the things left by sin in the world in so many ways. He gives us an understanding of compassion, of equality, of justice that simply wasn't possible otherwise -- our notions of freedom and justice derive from this great story of His life, His suffering, His love. He will set an example that is still at work in our understanding of right-relatedness in our world. It is all a great and tremendous gift, an undoing of the idea of material power and hierarchy simply for its own sake. So let us consider where it starts: it starts with us, within us, and in our willingness to take up His cross. Jesus is here to save and not to condemn, but it also depends on our willingness to take up His mission, to share it with Him. Can we accept the things of God? Are we willing to be shocked and stunned, to take up His cross, to bear the Good News in His Way?