Tuesday, March 26, 2024
PLEASE DON’T GO!
Matt 16:21-23
21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his
disciples, how that he must go unto
22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be
it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou
savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
It is not easy for us
to grasp the oppression that was practiced upon the
people by the religious elite of that day. They walked about in royal robes and
added tax upon tax while working hand in hand with the oppressive Romans.
Rightly did Jesus advise his followers to listen to their teaching but to shun
their behavior.
The scriptures at hand
indicate either an end of the beginning or the
beginning of the end. Jesus began and kept on teaching his
disciples that immediately ahead was trouble. The very people who represented
God to the people would perpetrate unthinkable cruelty upon the Son of God.
Jesus would be killed and that is all that Peter could grasp. We wonder if he
even heard the last part of the message – “and be raised again the third day.”
What a burning rebuke
it was to hear Jesus call Peter “Satan!” I am sure
that Peter’s only motivation was the preservation of his Master
but his resistance to God’s clear plan was devilish. Confusion and wonder
filled Peter’s mind. He was not thinking spiritually but naturally.
If we stand before our
tilled garden with seeds in our hand, we are faced with a
decision and a choice. If we look at the seeds with a desire to keep them, we
will have no harvest. We must sacrifice them to the ground so that death might
produce life.
Thomas Jefferson, a great man,
nevertheless could not accept the miraculous elements in Scripture. He edited
his own special version of the Bible in which all references to the
supernatural were deleted.
Dear Lord, Peter begged you not to go. I beg you now to return. AMEN
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