I’d say we all want acceptance by our family, friends, and even strangers. No one likes being left out, put down, made fun of, bullied, or being hurt or even rejected by others, esp. those we know or are around us in our daily lives. It’s embarrassing, humiliating, and it hurts. Actions and words of non-acceptance break our hearts and spirits and we can carry the inner scars of those wounds around for a long time.
We not only hope for acceptance by others for who we are, but also for things we say and do. By faith, we hope others will accept our message, our beliefs, the work we do, the love we share. We need to have faith that we can accept things said and done about things pertaining to our lives, the lives of those we love, and situations in the world around us.
I think this is esp. true when it relates to things pertaining to financial, physical, or relational health for ourselves or people we love. When things like a job loss, a medical diagnosis, a natural disaster, or a marriage breakup happen, that news is hard to accept and we need a lot of faith to get through it or be a support to our loved ones. But the hardest thing to accept is the news that someone has died or is about to die, even though our faith assures us with Jesus, death isn’t the end. Believe!!!
Well, this is the kind of message Jesus has just shared with his disciples. They’ve just shown they have faith enough to claim who he really is, and now, almost in the next breath it seems, Jesus predicts his coming horrific death to his closet followers and friends. No, as we’d probably be, they’re not ready to accept this one!
But Jesus’ death must happen and the message must be told to help prepare the disciples before it did, so they’d hopefully understand why it had to happen. And it was a message prophets way before Jesus even was born tried to prepare people for the kind of Messiah and Savior he’d really be, as well. But obviously people weren’t ready to accept what was foretold, and not even Jesus himself got the point across. It was just too hard to understand and accept that this bad news was really good news.
Like generations before them, people of Jesus’ day, disciples included, expected a warrior, conquering, hero-leader messiah, not a suffering servant-type one who must die before the people were set free. (vs. 21) No matter where the disciples were at in their faith journey, Jesus’ words were just too hard to accept, esp. after the great joy of Peter’s naming Jesus as the Messiah.
No wonder Peter exploded like he did! Maybe he forgot Daniel’s prophecy how the Messiah would be cut off. Dan.9:26: “The Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and sanctuary. The end will come like a flood. War will continue to the end and desolations have been decreed.” Or Isaiah’s words in chap. 53 about the Suffering Servant, which Jesus always claimed to be. (Isa. 53:3-6)
Still, Jesus rebuked Peter from his well-meaning words. No one wants their loved one to die, esp. not someone as special as Jesus and not in such a horrific humiliating way. But it all must happen to fulfill God’s plan and show to the world the extent of Jesus’ sacrificial love, forgiveness, and grace. No wonder Jesus calls Peter Satan!
Think about the Satan’s that mess with our faith and full acceptance of the gospel truth from time to time. It can be hard to fully profess belief or invite others to join us in the Christian faith when the leader, God becomes incarnate as the person of Jesus Christ, now in the flesh; fully human, yet still fully divine. (John 1:14)
Satan didn’t win with Jesus in the wilderness nor at the end. Jesus was ready to drink the cup and be obedient to death; death on a cross, so all who believe in him can be forgiven of their sins through his blood and be reconciled to God into new life, now and eternally, in his resurrection.
But like Peter, when we hear the word “death,” it triggers that “No!” in us, too. It sounds so permanent, lonely, and scary. It’s hard to hold on to faith and accept, esp. for those who lived before the resurrection.
We’re blessed to have the full story that Peter and the disciples didn’t have when Jesus first predicted his death. Prophecy also foretold of the glory to come because of Jesus’ faithfulness to the cross. In their shock and grief, maybe the boys just forgot things like eternal glory of the servant in Isa. 53:10-12 or Daniel’s vision proclaiming his eternal kingdom for all (Dan. 7:13-14).
We aren’t told for sure when Peter and the disciples came to full faith and total acceptance of all Jesus was, is, and is yet to come in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, but I’m sure it was a Holy Spirit work in progress as it is for each of us. Maybe Paul’s words can help us following his repentance and conversion, as he grew in his faith and acceptance of Jesus as his king of Kings and lord of Lords. Hear his words about Jesus (Col. 1:15-23).
Yes, this is a hard thing of the gospel to put our faith in Christ and accept. And it gets harder with Jesus’ third “must” in the passage (vs. 24-27). We talked about how hard it is to truly have faith in and accept the radical way of life and discipleship following Jesus involves last week in Disciple class. But hard as it is, it can be (and is) the most truly rewarding and life-giving blessing of all. It’s the inner qualities that are the true blessings of life – spiritual gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; things we need the most.
Things of this world (although we need some of them), no matter how valuable, shiny, and pleasing they may be, will all pass away, but Jesus and the love, life, and all the blessings he came to give will never pass away. Have faith and believe! It’s true!
Jesus doesn’t want any of us to have faith and accept all of this as gospel truth just because we’ve been told we should. It’s something Jesus prays we will come to, not as a forced submission, but as something we want to jump on board for and say: “This is the path I want to follow and it’s the vehicle through life I will ride because I know Jesus loves me and has come to bless me with abundant life now and eternally. I love him and pray for all of those blessings for myself and all those I love as I grow in faith and share the good news of the gospel that I accept for my salvation and yours, too.” Amen.