Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Matthew 16.21-23)
As a rule, most people are averse to taking a risk. We prefer to play it safe. So we don’t exceed the speed limit for fear of being stopped by the highway patrolman. We don’t speak out at meetings if our position is different from the crowds for fear of being ridiculed. We don’t back unpopular causes because of our fear of being rejected. Overall, we prefer the safe path.
The exceptions, of course, are adrenaline junkies and impulsive people, neither of whom give much thought to the risks involved in an action. They become mountain climbers and race car drivers. They are, all things considered, a rare breed. So when Rabbi Jesus tells his followers that he knows he will be put to death if he steps foot in Jerusalem, but still intends to go there, it makes perfect sense that Peter should answer, “God forbid!”
In the selection from Matthew’s gospel that we have today, we see Peter taking Jesus aside to try to talk some sense into him. “No such thing shall ever happen to you!” he says, clearly admonishing his teacher for considering such a foolhardy endeavor that is full of risks. Apparently, Rabbi Jesus doesn’t appreciate Peter’s reaction. Rather than appreciating Peter’s concern, the Teacher dresses down Peter, going so far as to call him Satan.
The irony, of course, is that a short while earlier Rabbi Jesus had called Peter a rock, someone who was sturdy and solid, and now he calls him Satan, accusing him of being an obstacle, although the word is better translated as a stumbling block. In other words, whereas earlier Peter was hailed as strong as a rock, now he is called a rock in the road that is out to make him stumble, causing him to steer off course.
Given the circumstances, we certainly would have done the same thing that Peter did. Hearing a friend consider doing something that is risky, we also would advise caution, if not a complete change of course. So, why the strong reaction from Rabbi Jesus’ to Peter’s desire to have the Teacher play it safe? Why does he tell Peter to get out of his way?
I suppose that the place to begin in understanding Jesus’ response is in the explanation that he gives to Peter for his reprimand. He says, “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Okay, but what exactly does that mean? How is the way God thinks so different from the way we think? Is there a chance that God believes in risky business, whereas we don’t?
Our best clue may come from an earlier instance in the gospel when Matthew tells us that Rabbi Jesus used the same phrase, “Get behind me Satan!” That familiar episode, of course, is known to us as the temptation in the desert, a moment early in Rabbi Jesus’ mission when he has a tense exchange with Satan who wants to sidetrack Jesus from his calling, attempting to bribe him with a less demanding life, presenting three scenarios that are his for the taking if he will just agree to Satan’s offer.
It is after the third scenario that Rabbi Jesus vehemently says, “Get away, Satan!” It is fair enough to draw a comparison here between these two episodes because Matthew almost insists we connect the two through his use of the same phrase. When we put them side-by-side, we may come to a clearer understanding of why Rabbi Jesus reprimands Peter so severely.
Looking at the earlier episode, we find Satan–literally translated as “the tester” or more often“the tempter”–offering Rabbi Jesus a much different path than the one that the God whom he calls his Father has put him on. The temptations, whether presented in the form of food or temporal power, all speak to self-interest, whereas doing the Father’s will is going to call for the opposite, that is, selflessness.
Put simply, Satan urges Jesus to think of himself in contrast to the Heavenly Father who has asked him to think of others. And right there is the nexus of Jesus’ response to Peter when he says, “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” In other words, God thinks in terms of selflessness and human beings think in terms of self-interest.
Of course, it is easy enough to see that selflessness is a high risk endeavor. If we’re selfless, we don’t think of ourselves first, not our needs, not our safety, not our wants. When we do that, who knows what will happen to us? Self-interest, on the other hand, is simply playing it safe. We do sensible things, such as looking out for ourselves and putting our own interests first.
So, when Peter urges Rabbi Jesus to avoid any kerfuffle with the religious leaders in Jerusalem that might result in something terrible happening to him, he is certainly talking like a person guided by self-interest and a healthy sense for self-preservation. Peter, a practical person like most of us, is pointing out the obvious to Rabbi Jesus, insisting it just makes more sense to stay away from trouble. Play it safe, he tells Rabbi Jesus.
But, as we heard, the Teacher is not impressed with the way his disciple is thinking, telling him that he is not the rock-solid guy he thought he was, but is now a rock that is trying to cause him to stumble. Rabbi Jesus has no intention of playing it safe. He has to take the risk of entering Jerusalem, knowing full well it spells bad news for him, because it is the will of his Heavenly Father that he stays on course. And Peter is suddenly getting in his way.
Realizing that Peter just doesn’t get the picture, he explains for the umpteenth time, “Whoever wishes to follow after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” With those words, Rabbi Jesus spells out discipleship for Peter. It is a life of selflessness, not a life motivated by self-interest. It is taking the risk, not playing it safe.
With that definition of being a disciple put before us, we are left to ask ourselves if we fulfill its demands. Do we deny ourselves and take up our cross? Do we enter Jerusalem, even if it is a high risk for us? Honestly, we all think more like Peter than like Rabbi Jesus, meaning we have a natural desire to look out for ourselves. Selflessness is not in our DNA. And it surely is not promoted by our culture, where every day we hear about self-fulfillment and personal happiness and living our best life, not a smidgen of selflessness in any of those pursuits.
Inundated with these messages, it is difficult not to be persuaded or tempted to go down the path that Satan offered Jesus at the start of his mission. After all, as Peter pretty much said out loud, who needs the hassle? Play it safe. Don’t make noise. Blend in with the crowd. Keep your head down. And, as we will see soon enough, it is exactly what Peter does when everything goes south in Jerusalem. Fearful for his own life, he denies even knowing who Jesus is.
So, as I see it, Peter’s fear–already put before us long before Jerusalem is even on the horizon–is the stumbling block that Rabbi Jesus talks about. If he had his way, Peter would have Jesus and the rest of the gang turn around and go back home. Call it a day. There is nothing good in Jerusalem. But Rabbi Jesus, thinking as God thinks, tells Peter to get out of the way. He’s going to Jerusalem, even if it is risky as hell.
And, when all is said and done, maybe the greatest deterrent to our living out the ways of Jesus is the fear factor. We’re just like Peter. We don’t want to risk it. Who knows what might happen if we shared our wealth with the poor, shared our country with immigrants, or shared our table with our political enemies? As we see it, doing one, much less all of these things, is a high stakes gamble.
As a result, we do the sensible thing. We take the easy path. We don’t flame the fire. Faced with those tough decisions that challenge us to live like Jesus in the world, we decide to take the safer route, which generally means we choose to do what everybody else does, we stay with the pack, and we blend in with the crowd. Like Peter, we keep a safe distance from the condemned Jesus, chatting with people like us, content with risk-free lives.
It should be obvious, of course, that this is not the way that Rabbi Jesus called his followers to live. He tells his disciples today, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” He then asked them, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”
If we think Rabbi Jesus is talking poppycock here, he isn’t. He’s simply spelling it out for his followers. If they choose to stay in their safe world, then they forfeit any claim to live as he lived. Admittedly, living as he lived is a life of high risk. Who knows what might happen to us if we help the poor, stand on the side of the persecuted, and protest the putdown of people because of their status, state, or situation?
If history is precedent, it means getting nailed to a cross, which, I suppose, is why we hear Rabbi Jesus tell his followers to take up their cross. He knows that people who follow him and his ways are going to get crucified, either literally or figuratively. But, it’s take the risk or stay in bed. If we aren’t going to live like Jesus, why in the world do we bother to get out of the bed in the morning?
For the faithful follower of Jesus, the risks are always there. But if he or she doesn’t take the risk, then the poor are left on the roadside, the hungry are left unfed, and the persecuted are left at the mercy of their persecutors. In losing our life, simply another way of saying that we live selflessly, we will find it because, in the end, a life lived for others is the only life worth living.
From this point on, Rabbi Jesus will continue to teach his followers on the meaning of discipleship. In a short while, we will see him leaving Galilee and going to Jerusalem, fully aware that he will come face to face with the final test of his commitment to do the Father’s will when he walks through the gates of the city. And in that moment when he enters Jerusalem, he may be giving his disciples the greatest lesson in what it means to walk with him.
Unfortunately, as we already know by the facts, they all scatter to the winds when the time comes to take a risk, leaving Jesus to stand alone before his persecutors, a final reminder to us that the greatest deterrent to living out the ways of Jesus is always the fear factor. Simply put, discipleship is risky business, which probably explains why we will hear Rabbi Jesus say near the end of his life, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
–Jeremy Myers
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