Sunday Meditation: Get Behind Me Satan

Last week we saw Jesus praise Peter and hand him the keys of the Kingdom.  Today in His next breath Jesus rebukes Peter and calls him Satan!

 

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."

 

Then Jesus said to his disciples,

"Whoever wishes to come 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.

What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world

and forfeit his life?

Or what can one give in exchange for his life?

For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct."

~Mt 16:21-27

But Jesus says more than just rebuking Peter.  Fr. Geoffrey Plant explains the passage.  This is superb, perhaps his best. 

 

As Fr. Plant explains that shame is at the center of this passage.  That is why Peter is so shocked. 

Meditation: “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Are you ashamed that Jesus lost His life in such a fashion?  More importantly, are you ashamed to lose your life for Jesus?