Reflection by The Ven. Dr Deborah Broome

The cost of following Jesus

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of 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, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?  “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Matthew 16:21-28

In last Sunday’s Gospel Peter answered for the disciples: Jesus was much more than folk were saying he was – he was the Messiah.  And Jesus affirmed that and told Peter he was a rock on which he would build the church.  And when we hear that story we feel affirmed as part of that church that exists as the very body of Christ.  But in this reading it’s different.  Jesus is telling Peter and the disciples about the cost of what he must do to carry out what God wants him to do – and the cost of what they must do as the body of Christ.

Jesus is saying, “You’re right – I am the Messiah, but that means hard things are going to happen to me: I’ll be killed in Jerusalem, and after three days rise again.”  As so often, Peter takes the initiative, “God forbid it, Lord!  This must never happen to you.”  Peter didn’t want Jesus to experience pain, suffering, rejection, death – this wasn’t part of the disciples’ idea of what it meant for their leader to be the Messiah.  Maybe Peter thinks it’s his role to ensure a successful outcome of Jesus’ mission, maybe he’s feeling protective and wanting to find a less painful way for Jesus to do things (and those are both things that church people today try to do sometimes) but whatever was in his mind he gets told “Get behind me, Satan!”  Think back to the scene in the desert at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, and the temptations he faced there: get your own hunger satisfied, prove to everyone how much God loves you, gain all the kingdoms of the world by worshipping the wrong person.  All variations on what Peter wants here:  to find an easier path than the way of the cross.  And Jesus says: there is no easier path. 

I wonder if there’s something else on here too: I think Peter’s also saying, “Oh, no, Lord, not me!”  Because maybe Peter was beginning to work out from Jesus’ rebuke that the same thing might happen to him, and he didn’t want to experience pain, rejection, suffering, death.  Who would?   And I guess like Peter we’re also saying “Oh no, Lord, not me!”  After all, in today’s instant society we want things to happen quickly, smoothly, and without pain.  We want an easy way to do things, and denying ourselves, and taking up our crosses doesn’t sound fun, or easy.   But there isn’t a “discipleship-lite” option – there really isn’t.  “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” 

So sometimes, if that’s what God asks of us, that’s what we do.  Sometimes, to follow Jesus truly, we have to follow him all the way to Jerusalem.  But this isn’t all doom and gloom.  The good news of this is that being a Christian isn’t always easy (though it’s likely easier in Aotearoa than in some other countries), but it is always life-giving.  It gives a purpose and a meaning to our lives.  It assures us that we are part of a story that is bigger than us and bigger than our circumstances.  And the other good news is that God will be with us all the time, helping us to fulfil the tasks for which we’ve been called.

Image credit: Nikola Tomašić, Unsplash