“What can a man give …”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
(Matthew 16:15-26; NIV. Please read Matthew 16.)
When the Lord asks a question … we need to answer it.
“Who do you say I am? In the end … that is all that matters. Not what someone says or does … but what I say and do about Jesus. Do I believe that He is the Son of God? Am I willing to admit that? Commit to that?
For Peter … he is ready to make the good confession. He believes that Jesus is the Son of God, and he is willing to commit his life to Him. But when that confession – that commitment – goes beyond “acceptable” or “reasonable” expectations … there is a problem.
Jesus confides in His disciples that there are tough days ahead – especially for Him. He will suffer “many things” and be killed. This is too much for Peter to bear. Whether its his love for Jesus or his fear of death … Peter “rebukes” Jesus. (I emphasize that word “rebuke”, because the one who just confessed Jesus to be the Son of God is rebuking Him as if he were an equal or better. I would like to understand Peter’s reaction to this news … to understand his motives, but the truth in this moment comes from Jesus.)
Jesus turns to Peter and speaks the harshest words we have heard Him speak since the 40 days of temptation, “Get behind me, Satan!” There was temptation in Peter’s rebuke … something that was enticing to Jesus; but Jesus refused it – just as He did out there in the wilderness. He chose to keep His mind on the “things of God” – not the “things of men“.
It was then that He asked a final question – another question that demands to be answered: “What will a man give in exchange for his own soul?” They lived the rest of their lives answering …
ON SECOND THOUGHT: I have taught classes and preached sermons from this chapter in the life of Jesus and Peter. I have sat in on “theological” discussions of these events by men more knowledgeable and wiser than I. And I have come to believe … that I may never know why Peter did what he did … or understand why Jesus spoke as He spoke; but I must answer the questions that Jesus asked. I must answer them … not just for lessons or sermons … but in my heart – my life. I, too, will spend the rest of my life answering them.
July 21, 2008 at 9:54 am
“What will a man give in exchange for his own soul?” The church answer would be that I would give my life. I will give my life to Jesus if He will dwell in my soul forever.
My life has not really lived this “church answer” though. Like Peter I have told Jesus that He is the Son of God and then turned right around and done the opposite. I looked for anything that would make me numb … make me feel valuable … give me escape … if just for a moment. I was willing to exchange these moments for a lifetime in Hell.
I’m grateful that God didn’t let me go. Jesus didn’t quit talking to Peter after that rebuke. He just needed Peter to realize what was going on. The road Jesus had to take was going to be hard enough … He needed support, not someone trying to get Him out of it. He hasn’t quit talking to me either. Although He’s had to rebuke me pretty severely in my life He never treated me any different afterwards. I have always been His child.
So after what He’s done for my soul I need to give something in return. I don’t have much to give but I can offer my service … my heart … my devotion. I can use the life He has spared to honor Him.
July 21, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Peter is someone that I would love to sit down and talk with and learn from. I didn’t give him a whole lot of thought in my early years as a Christian. Maybe I would read what he did and shake my head in disbelief at his attitude. Or what I perceived to be his attitude. But since coming home, he has become the person to whom I can most easily relate.
One point you made…had never crossed my mind: That Jesus saw temptation in Peter’s words. I just always thought that Jesus called Peter satan since Peter was trying to stop Jesus from going to the cross and all the evil that would have allowed. I never thought about the aspect of temptation…but it makes perfect sense. Thank you for teaching me to see new things in the Word….yet again.
“Whoever loses his life for me will find it”….in going thru the divorce, I lost what had been my life…and I found a life so much better, so much sweeter, so much more worth living when I turned back to God. I’m not sure that’s really what is being discussed here in these verses, but it certainly fits what I have experienced.