The Solid Rock becomes the Stumbling Block...


At the end of Matthew 16, we see an emboldened Simon Peter answer correctly about Jesus' Messiah identity. The other disciples mention various prophets like Jeremiah. Jesus then plays off of his name Peter (Greek 'petros') and rock (Greek 'petra' meaning rock) and tells him and the other disciples that the rock of truth about His Messianic identity will build His church that no powers of the evil one can overpower.

All good right? Hold on...

Then, just a few sentences later, we have Jesus telling the disciples of His pending suffering and death at the hands of the Jewish leadership and Peter again speaks up and in a sense rebukes Jesus for this horrible statement. Jesus, who must have been looking at other disciples turns to Peter and calls him out for this rebuke and calls him a stumbling block and, like Satan, trying to be an obstacle to Jesus' identity & mission - sound familiar?

So, Simon Peter goes from pretty much solid rock faith to become a stumbling block.

As D.A. Carson has commented, "Get behind me, Satan. Jesus is not claiming that Peter is demon-possessed but that his rejection of the way of the cross reflects the attitude of Satan. Get behind me. This means “Get away from me.” Peter, the “rock” (v. 18), has quickly become a “stumbling block.”

FUN FACT: This is the 3rd time Jesus has used the name Satan - the first time Jesus addressed Satan was, did you guess it? Yes - Jesus' 40-day wilderness experience and testing by Satan in Matthew 4 testing Jesus' identity & mission.

(BONUS - See if you can find the other reference to Satan thus far in Matthew...)

I think Peter is so relatable to us - one minute we're on track and doing great and the next minute we're stumbling. Lord have mercy on us, right?

Matthew 16 ends with Jesus inviting His disciples to put aside selfish ambition, take up their cross, and follow. In essence, the self is no longer in charge; God is. For followers of Jesus, we live in a paradox: To attempt to keep your life means only to lose it. In contrast, willingly giving up our lives for Christ is the pathway to true life.

How is Jesus calling you to give up everything to follow Him today?

Photo by USGS on Unsplash

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