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From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a hindrance to Me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what He has done.” (Matthew 16:21-27)
Poor Peter! I’m sure he wasn’t expecting Jesus to bite his head off. As Peter saw it, he was being reasonable—surely God would never allow such horrible evils to happen to His chosen Messiah!
But Jesus saw the truth—that the devil was speaking through Peter, trying to tempt Jesus to change His course and avoid the cross. And that could never happen, because if Jesus saved Himself, the way Peter was suggesting, the rest of us would go unsaved—would continue to be slaves to sin, evil, and death, until we reached final destruction. And Jesus loves us too much to let that happen. More than that, He loves God the Father too much to ever disobey Him and destroy the saving mission agreed upon within the Trinity from the foundation of the world.
I’m glad Jesus was so clear-sighted. If Jesus hadn’t chosen to suffer, die, and rise from the dead, where would I be right now? Or you?
But because Jesus loved us, He held to His course. He willingly lost His life so He could gain life for all of us. And that is what we have, every one of us who trusts in Jesus. We have eternal life, joy, and happiness in Him, as well as peace with God and a permanent place in God’s family.
We have even more than that—because Jesus honors us with a place in His mission. We who belong to Him play a vital role in getting the Good News out to the rest of the world, so that as many people as possible may trust in Jesus as their Savior. Will it cost us? Oh yes—and the cost will be similar to what Jesus paid. We may not end up on a cross, but we are bound to have some sort of suffering, because that’s how the world works.
But it’s more than worth it. For in the end, we will see our Savior’s face; and we will hear His words, “Well done!” What more could we ask?
WE PRAY: Lord, help me to follow You, even when the way is hard or scary. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
- When have you done something for Jesus that made you afraid or nervous?
- Are you sorry, now? Or are you glad?
- Do you look forward to seeing Jesus face to face? Why or why not?
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