For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it

 

 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 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  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."  Then He commanded His disciples that they should 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.  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."  My study Bible explains that after Peter's confession (in yesterday's reading, above), Jesus reveals the true nature of His messiahship:  the mystery of His Passion.  It was expected that the Messiah would reign forever, so the concept that Christ would die was perplexing to Peter and remained scandalous to the Jews even after the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 1:23).  As Jesus indicates, Peter unwittingly speaks for Satan, as the devil did not want Christ to fulfill His mission and save mankind through suffering and death. 

 

 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."  The cross was a dreaded instrument of Roman punishment; my study Bible points out that it is at the same time a symbol of suffering by Christians in imitation of Christ.  Christians practice self-denial for the sake of the love of God and the gospel.  My study Bible comments that to accept this suffering is not a punishment, nor an end in itself.  Rather it is a means to overcome the fallen world for the sake of the Kingdom and to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24).  

"For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."  My study Bible notes that the central paradox of Christian living is that in grasping for temporal things, we lose the eternal.  But in sacrificing everything in this world, we gain eternal riches that are unimaginable (1 Corinthians 2:9).  It is important that we put this in the context of choice, what we put first as priority in life, what we choose over all else (Matthew 6:33).

 "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."  Christ's question emphasizes the foolishness of putting first in life the accumulation of worldly wealth or power in the sense that it cannot redeem our fallen soul, and neither will it benefit us in the life to come.  We are being given illustrations of the choices we will be asked to make.

"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 calls this a reference to those who would witness the Transfiguration (our next reading, Matthew 17:1-9), as well as those in every generation who will experience the presence of God's Kingdom.  

The concept of exchange is one that we continually come across in the Gospels and in the teachings of Jesus, but often it seems to elude conception to picture it this way.  In today's reading, Jesus speaks about an exchange of perceptions, a way of giving things up to God, putting our material lives in God's hands for God's priorities.  It is in this sense that we are asked to deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Christ.  For He will give His life in following God, even if it means going to the Cross, for this is the exchange of His worldly life for God's plan of salvation for all -- for all people, and all time.  When we make choices between the true need of the soul for redemption and meaning, and a more worldly understanding of what our proper goals are, then we do something similar.  We do as He did, and as He asks.  For example, one may find what one thinks is an open pathway in life, a job or other opportunity.  But if in prayer we seem to be directed away from what looks in every respect like a great material choice, and we forego that seemingly obviously good choice for the place the word of God directs us and our souls, then we are making a redemptive exchange.  We are "handing over" that material reality to God and seeking to follow God's way, even when there is a conflict we might not quite understand.  This is something done in faith:  it gives us meaning, it asks us to make choices, it sets the world and our lives out as that which we return to God for God's purposes and meanings which are given to us, and create a true weight and value in the soul.  When Jesus tells Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan!" it is not because Peter has deliberately chosen to advocate something which is obviously bad or evil.  But Peter's concern is a worldly perspective that conflicts with the life and choices the Father has commanded for Christ, and hence He says to Peter, "You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."  Our own "fallenness" or "brokenness" is a kind of broken communion with God, in which our material lives might frequently be in conflict with the places God asks us to go, and choices God would ask us to make, if we but pay attention and emphasize that relationship with God that comes through prayer and worship.  Christ asks us for a deepening of that relationship, an exchange of a purely worldly perception which might seem perfectly reasonable and good, but for a deeper relationship in which God will guide us to meaning and direction which serves God's purposes and far grander goals than we could set for ourselves.  Let us note that this takes great faith and is not merely a question of following formal rules, but of true listening and prayer, and a deepening relationship with God, a commitment to faith and the work of God in us, which will change and transform the ways that we see things.  What sounds good on one level is frequently not the depth of good that God calls us to, but we can see and hear this only with the eyes and ears of faith, the perceptions of the heart that Christ calls us to.  It is a question of exchange:  what would we give up for our souls?  What meaning and depth can be preferable to that which God will give us, the deep place to which God calls us?  Many times it is the very things the world seems to approve of that we will find God asks us to turn down, just as Christ Himself was the ultimate example of scandal and scorn in order to follow God's purpose.  In making an exchange, we're asked to make a sacrifice -- but it is a sacrifice in order to receive something deeper, grander, of a far different and unknown substance than the merely worldly or material alone -- and that is something that nothing in this earth can buy for us but our own loyalty and faith to God.  Worldly fame and glory is very impressive, and so many chase after it and the approval of the world. But it takes courage to find the deeper understanding of real conviction, the often perplexing and hard to understand life of faith that pays out so much more albeit in ways not obviously seen or immediately present.  And that takes strength, the kind of strength He asks us to learn in following Him and the truth He gives.