Glory of Jesus I
Peter’s Infamous Rebuke
Matt 16:21-26
In Matthew 16:16
we find Peter’s words of settled conviction
as an answer to Jesus’ question to the disciples, But who do you say
that I, the son of man, am?, Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the son of the
living God.”
What is implicit
in these words, is that the disciples had come to see the true nature of Jesus
messianic role and identity. Jesus asked the question using the veiled
messianic reference, the son of man. Peter answered using the words, “Christ”
that was packed with political meaning among the population of the day and Son
of God showing his origin and something of his work.
A messiah had
long been expected by the religious in Israel. False messiahs had appeared many
times, but the common expectation among the Jews of the first century was for a
messianic figure who would prove himself to be a political liberator and
power. Even the Saducees had an idea of
a physical political entity that would be ruled by Messiah forever. This liberator
would throw off the cloak of all authority and lead the Jewish nation into
world prominence and domination in a golden messianic age that would last
forever. It would grow into a time and place of blessedness called heaven.
Today, this view is called Zionism.
The Jews were
not looking for a spiritual kingdom with a spiritual ethos about it--their
hopes were for a material kingdom with a physical presence and dominion.
Therefore, the use of the humble term son
of man, was preferred by Jesus as he saw himself as the anointed messiah.
Son of man was an obscure reference to the one who would fulfill the true
messianic mission. The term, Christ, or anointed one had political overtones in
the minds of the masses.
It is this
difference in perspective and expectation between the Jews of Jesus’ day and
the true and only messiah that is at the heart of Jesus’ instruction to his
disciples in Verse 20 of Matthew 16.
[For extemporaneous exposition as to why Peter isn't the Pope based on this passage, see this message at http://www.sermonaudio.com. ]
Let’s
read the text of Matt 16 from v. 20 through v. 26. Under these headings:
1. Why Silence?
2. A New Focus to the Teaching Ministry
3. Peter’s First Attempt at Binding and Loosing
4. Jesus Rebukes the Rebuker
5. The Cost of Following the Christ
Let’s read the text:
1. Why Silence?
Matt. 16:20 Then He commanded His disciples that
they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
2. A New Focus to the Teaching Ministry
Matt. 16:21 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.
3. Peter’s First Attempt at Binding and Loosing
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him,
saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this
shall not happen to You!”
4. Jesus Rebukes the Rebuker
23 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.”
5. The Cost of Following the Christ
Matt. 16:24 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. 25 “For whoever desires to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “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?
Let’s look at
the text more closely:
1. Why Silence?
Matt. 16:20 Then He commanded His disciples that
they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
Jesus did not
tell his disciples to not tell because he did not know he was the anointed
messiah of God. Jesus was not promoting what liberalism has called, “The
Messianic Secret”. The command for silence was given because this title,
Christ, would have been misunderstood.
His miracles and
mission had already been misunderstood after feeding the 5,000. The multitudes
wanted to make him king--on their terms, not on the terms of a true
understanding of who Jesus was.
Peter had
professed Jesus true identity--they had come to understand that Jesus was the
Christ, and that his kingdom was vastly different that what they had once
thought. They had come to know, that Jesus was THE Christ, the Son of the
Living God. The confession in John 6 and Matthew 16 is devoid of the
misperception common among the Jews of the first century. It is full of truth.
Since the
Disciples had finally understood who Jesus was and the mission he was on, it
was time to bring them deeper in their understanding of what he must do. They knew he was the messiah and the son of
the living God, but there was so much more.
Jesus
accommodates this knowledge to the disciples incrementally. He brings them to a
point of understanding of foundational truths, then he opens up new and
necessary doctrines that are based on what he has previously said.
Therefore, here
we have ....
2. A New Focus to the Teaching Ministry
There are basic
elements of his future ministry and mission that Jesus is going to introduce to
the disciples.
—They are:
—Travel to
Jerusalem—the Holy City where the Temple was
—Suffering at
the hands of the elders, chief priests and scribes
—Being Killed
—& Be Raised
from the dead—a point often forgotten or lost upon the disciples.
This is what
Matthew tells us as the explicit items on Jesus’ agenda as he makes these five
items the main focus in his teaching ministry to the disciples. They are ready
to start hearing these things. Repeat: they are ready to start hearing these
things. But, if you know the Gospels, it takes them a long time for the
truthfulness and the ramifications of the truth to sink in. The needed to learn
about the coming work of redemption the messiah must accomplish. Many were
still thinking of a material Kingdom, rather than a spiritual one.
This is what
Matthew wrote:
Matt. 16:21 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.
Jesus was just
beginning to show these things to his disciples. Yet, the general theme of
suffering at the hands of the Jewish leaders and about his own passion and
resurrection had already been stated in a veiled manner.
Turn over to
John Chapter 2 for a moment. This is where we find Jesus cleansing the temple
at the beginning of his ministry. After driving out the moneychangers, he is
asked a few questions. We pick up the narrative in Verse 18. Where we have an interesting and informative
contrast between the spirituality of Jesus perceptions and the physical perceptions
of those who witnessed his action.
John 2:18-22 18
So the Jews answered and said to Him,
“What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” 19
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
What is Jesus
talking about? What do the Jews think Jesus is talking about? Let’s read
further--
20 Then the Jews said,
“It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise
it up in three days?”
They were
thinking of the physical temple. But as Verse 21 tells us,
21 But [Jesus] was speaking of the temple of His body.
The effect of
all this was future. John adds,
22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples
remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and
the word which Jesus had said.
When did the
disciples finally believe what Jesus had taught at the beginning of his
ministry? After the resurrection, after the events occurred they looked back
and said, “That’s what he meant....” The resurrection was important for many
reasons.
Back in Matthew
16:21 we are told from this point onward, Jesus taught about these things.
Implicitly, Jesus is teaching them that there was not going to be the grand and
glorious fulfillment of the mistaken hopes of the Jews for a physical and
eternal reign of the messiah on the earth. His kingdom would be pursued in a
much different manner--a spiritual means to its own glorious ends.
The word must
is used to show these elements are necessary in order to complete his messianic
mission as it had been given to him by his Father, the Living God.
Note to the
reference to going to Jerusalem. The Jewish
mafia had already been sending agents to Galilee to hear what he had to say
and to keep track of him. They had already sought to kill him. The only thing
that kept them from acting on this was their fear of the multitudes who also
went wherever Jesus went. Jesus is telling them that he must at some point
return to the most hostile place on earth in order to accomplish the work he
had been given to do.
Jesus was
utterly committed to his mission in order to complete the work his Father had
given him to do. A work that in many places and in many ways had already been
revealed in prophetic utterances of old.
The Death of
Jesus was fixed--it was absolutely essential to accomplish the redemption of
his people.
This news was
too much for at least one of the disciples--the man who had recently given the
confession on which these great truths could be taught, Peter. The narrative that follows his great
confession and Jesus words about that great confession finds Peter being
anything but steadfast to the words he spoke saying, You are the Christ, the
son of the living God.
Look at V 22
where we have....
3. Peter’s First Attempt at Binding and Loosing
22 Then Peter took Him aside
At least Peter
had the decency to make this a private matter. He took Jesus aside in order to
speak with him. Look at what follows--
and began to rebuke Him,
Peter began to
contradict what Jesus, the Christ, the son of the living God had said.
Implicitly, Peter thought Jesus was WRONG. This word for contradict is a strong
word. It means to either command or to denounce one for error or sin.
This is what
Jesus did to the wind and sea when he stilled them both. This is what Jesus did
to demons when he cast them out. This is what Jesus’ did to the fever when he
healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. This is the word used when Jesus commands
in order to contradict a present state of affairs and to denounce the works and
workers of darkness. And, this is what Peter did to his Lord shortly after his
great confession.
It is not that
Peter is making a little suggestion to Jesus or asking Jesus, “Are you
absolutely sure it must be this way?” No, Peter was contradicting Jesus,
seeking to get him to change what must Jesus said must happen--It is an
explicit denunciation of Jesus’ words of what was necessary for his divine
mission. And this is what he said....
saying, “Far be it
from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
Peter speaks
with certainty; Peter is mistaken. He says, let these things be far away from
your experience Lord. One lexicon explains the language “Far be it from you,
Lord” with these words: “a highly elliptical expression equivalent in meaning
to the statement ‘may God be merciful to you in sparing you from having to
undergo some experience’ with force: ‘God forbid it, may it not happen” The
presence of both forms of the particle for “no” or “not” shows Peter could not
imagine any circumstance where these things should be allowed to happen. He
even uses a word from the word family of propitiation to convey the strength of
his words--May God be appeased and remove this thing from you. Anyway I look at
it, these things cannot be allowed to happen.
Peter is
fighting against the eternal purpose and absolute necessity of the work of
Christ in his life and death. He doesn’t know that, yet. But at this time he
wants there to be some other way. The text says, began to rebuke him. As Jesus
had begun to teach the necessity of these things, Peter sought to counteract
them with equal or greater force.
Have you ever
not liked something God brought to pass in your life? Have you ever grumbled at
his providence? Have you ever been enraged by your situation so that you were
tempted to rebuke God?
People do this
all the time. They get angry at unforeseen providences that cramp their style
or their schedule or that go against what they had planned. In reality, what
comes to pass is the very best for our good and for God’s glory. He knows what
we need. He has said all things will work together for good for those who are
the Called.
But, let’s go a
bit further in our probing--have you ever read your Bible and come across
something you didn’t like? What did you do? Dismiss it? Think simply that can’t
be true and keep on reading? As you meditate on the Word have you ever found
yourself thinking or saying, Lord, this cannot be? And the only reason it
cannot be is not that God hasn’t said it, but merely because you don't like it?
These comments
or thoughts against God’s providences and his Word are rebukes of God at worst
and murmurings and complainings at best. Either way they are sins. In my
assessment, most of them are implicit rebukes of God or his servants in order
for people to justify their own private interpretations. People change their
understanding of God to accommodate their own errors.
The Scriptures
and their interpretation is given to the Church as a corporate entity and not
to any individually. Like Peter, when individuals act on their own, they are in
great danger of unknowingly contradicting God. That is a dangerous place to be.
And that is exactly where we find Peter in Matthew 16. Peter is like some of us who think we know
better than God. Peter thinks he knows better than God incarnate. The one he
has witnessed doing marvel-filled works and speaking the wonderful words of
life. The one to whom he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
Jesus takes an
opportunity to answer starting with some fitly spoken words.....
4. Jesus Rebukes the Real Rebuker
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!
Where there is
some question in some minds about whether Peter is the “rock” or even a “rock”
in an earlier narrative, there is no question here about who is called, Satan,
it is Peter. And, it is not simply what Satan signifies, Jesus uses the
vocative case as he views Peter as if he were Satan in the flesh before him.
The meek and mild Lord, Jesus calls Peter, “Satan.”
Put yourself in
Peter’s shoes. I’m sure he believed he was right, sincere and doing what he
thought was the right thing to do. But, Peter was dead wrong--he had
misperceived the situation and acted in undiscerning haste, again. Therefore
Jesus gives the counter-rebuke, rebuking his rebuker, with the words, “Get
outta here, Satan.” If you pardon my rather free translation. But, that it
about the force and meaning of it.
The verb
translated “Get behind me” is a command to Peter to get out of his presence.
Jesus views this
situation as he did the temptation in the Wilderness back towards the start of
his ministry. Turn back to Chapter 4 for a minute.
In Matt 4:1-11
we have the temptations of Jesus after he had fasted for many days. The Devil came
to tempt him. Jesus rebuked him with the word of God and eventually said to him
in Verse 4:10, Then Jesus said to him,
“Away with you, Satan! It is the
same verb as we find in Matthew 16:23 where Jesus commands Satan to get away
from him. It is strong language that can’t be softened.
What was Peter’s
problem? It seems that he picked up on the suffering and death part of the
teaching, but not on the triumph of the resurrection. He became obsessed with a
part of what Jesus had begun to teach and had not placed it in the context of
the entirety of Jesus’ teaching.
Peter needs the
benefit of the doubt. He thought he was doing what was right. But, he was dead
wrong. I am sure he was concerned for truth--but in it he was guilty of great
error. I am sure he was sincere, but he was sincerely wrong in his rebuke of
the Lord Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
It is not loving
God with all our mind. And as they are spoken to others, they have the capacity
to lead others astray. That is why it was a good thing for Peter to take Jesus
aside when he sought to rebuke him.
Additionally,
sincerity is not a saving grace--people can be sincere about something and
sincerely wrong at the same time. Look at Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnessism,
Roman Catholicism, etc. Etc. Etc. All isms have sincere adherents who are all
sincerely wrong as they pursue a salvation by works to some degree.
People like that
can actually do the work of the devil as they think in their heart of hearts
that they are right. There are many Peter’s in our day who refuse to bow the
knee to what God has truly said as his whole counsel is taught and proclaimed.
It is only made worse by the spirit of individualism present in our day.
You see, there
is safety in knowing the Word of God and doing the Word of God in an
unadulterated manner. It is a blessing to be taught by those God has gifted and
called. Those who God will call to account for what they have taught.
Let’s get back
to the text....
Jesus continues:
You are an offense to Me,
Jesus is
scandalized by what Peter said and did. Peter is wrong. Peter isn’t being very
steadfast and rock-solid is he? Jesus
saw Peter as having sinned against him. And by the stinging rebuke we know
Jesus wants him far from him, if he is going to be like that, I should say like
Satan.
Jesus continued:
for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the
things of men.”
Peter came to
know he was the Christ, but he was still thinking like the multitude, the
scribes, the Pharisees, and the Chief Priests. He was concerned with the
physical, what was seen, what he could feel with his hands or with his
emotions. This left a void in his mind so that he did not have his mind full of
the thoughts of God, but the concerns of men.
How many times
do we take the things of God and only superficially apply them to the outward
aspects of our life, when they should inform the inner man that we may be
changed from glory to glory? It happens all the time.
People get
concerned or obsessed with their own views on many matters, or being heard, or
being right, no matter what anyone else says. Many do this with the same
motivations of Peter--they are right in their own eyes, they think these things
are important enough to rebuke, or to instruct others about these things while
thinking themselves to be right, and they add to that the sincerity they have
in doing it--but in the end, the tragedy is that they will be shown to have
been like the twin rebukers Peter, and Satan, rather than like Jesus.
Being like
Christ, as one of his committed followers comes with a cost. And, that cost is
what some find offensive. It is a cost where we suspend our own rites on
matters of faith and practice in order to take up those that are Jesus’. Thank
God that he has revealed himself in the incarnate Word and since he has
ascended to heaven his written Word and with that Word given teachers to the
Churches to instruct with the Word of God as it “is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness...” As the Spirit
says in 2 Tim 3:16.
Jesus then tells
Peter and the others who were in close proximity....
5. The Cost of Following the Christ
Matt. 16:24 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. 25 “For whoever desires to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “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?
We touch upon
this theme of following Jesus once again. Following Jesus does not entitle
anyone to their own pride-filled private interpretation of him or the events
surrounding him as Peter tried to do. Following Jesus is to be humble and to
come after him, denying oneself. This is perhaps the hardest thing we are
called to do as disciples. We are not on our own path to God--we are on His
Straight and Narrow way. We can’t make things up as we go along--we must take
his directions as our own.
You see, where
pride manifests itself, we know at that point, the one with pride is not
following as they ought.
We need to be
taught the whole counsel of God in order to be mindful of the things of God, so
that we can follow him by faith. In the great commission Jesus commands his
Apostles to teach all that he had commanded. Those are the things that are to
be taught to the Churches. Jesus likens discipleship to taking up one’s cross
in order to follow him.
Jesus has only
started teaching the disciples about his death. When these words were spoken
they did not know the richness of the metaphor of taking up the cross. They did
not realize at that time Jesus was telling them that following him may mean
their own death in a number of ways.
1. Their own
death to their own aspirations and desires in order to take up the purposes of
God in all areas of this life.
2. Their own
death to their ideas about Jesus, his life and his work in order to conform
their thoughts to the truth about Jesus as he revealed it.
3. Their own
death as they stand committed to him, no matter what, their own death even to
crucifixion on a Roman cross.
Jesus said,
25 “For whoever
desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake
will find it.
What do you
desire? To assert yourself, your ideas, agenda, means to an end, rites to your
own opinions and whatever you are truly sincere about? Do you stand ever-ready
to rebuke God’s ways or his Word?
Or will you lay
even those things at the feet of Jesus to follow him according to his Word in
all humility--no matter what humans may throw at you?
Only those who
lose their life for His cause will truly find it.
Jesus asks Peter
two important questions:
A. 26 “For what profit is
it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
B. Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
The soul of man
is the thing of greatest value to God. The answers are simple, obvious and
profound:
A. 26 “For what profit is
it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
It would be of
no profit to acquire everything you want in this life only to discover how
wrong you have been at the judgment.
B. Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
There is nothing
a man can give for his soul. He cannot even acquire all the wealth of all the
nations and trade it in for his soul’s rest.
What do you
value? Jesus is God’s priceless treasure. To provide security for our lost and
dying souls each and every man must have faith in Jesus, who is the anointed of
God, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Trust in him.
Listen to his gentle instruction as it is revealed in his Word and that Word as
it is proclaimed from faithful pulpits. That is the means God has ordained to
accomplish his abiding purpose to seek and to save the last. May these words be
used even today to comfort the saints and to call sinners to repentance.
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