Cedar Valley Lutheran Church

Pentecost 14A           August 30, 2026       Matthew 16:21-28

 

This is the first time Jesus speaks to his disciples about his fate. Great suffering will come his way – not at the hands of the worst among us, but the finest, the most respected, and the most honored. The Jewish leaders: the chief priests, the scribes and Pharisees will choreograph his death. And Jesus tells them that after they have had their way with him and he is dead and buried, he will be raised back to life on the third day. Jesus tells them what to prepare for and, of course, they can’t believe it. Peter, whom Jesus just declared to be the rock upon which he will build his church, now calls him a stumbling block standing in his way. “God forbid it Lord!” Peter cries, “This must never happen to you!”

 

Let me stop here for a bit. In Greek, the word translated as “God forbid” is eleos. This is the only time it is used in the New Testament when it is translated as such. Every other time it is used it is translated as “mercy.” So technically, Peter is saying “Mercy to you, Lord! This must never happen to you.” What Peter is doing here is offering Jesus an alternative to the road of suffering, death, and resurrection. He is using his authority as the “Rock” upon which the church is built and to whom the keys of the kingdom have been given to release Jesus from his fate and bind him to mercy. The mistake Peter is making is that he thinks that heaven will comply with whatever the church binds and releases on earth. In actuality it is the other way around. The church on earth is given the responsibility to comply with whatever heaven binds and releases. This is the first time the church exercises its mandate and Peter gets it wrong and is severely rebuked by Jesus.

 

This, of course, isn’t the only time the disciples misunderstand and so, from now on, Jesus will tell them these things over and over again. But this isn’t all that Jesus wants them to understand. Disciples must follow in the footsteps of their masters. So, whoever follows Jesus will also have to deny themselves and take up the cross. They will have to be willing to lose their lives for his sake if they want to find true life.

 

It seems to me that there are a couple of ways to react to these words from Jesus. One is to embrace them with a sense of call to make decisions that reflect a commitment to do exactly what Jesus is asking – to deny yourself and take up a life selflessness and sacrifice. For them, these words are an invitation leading to a life that serves the wellbeing of others. There are others, however, who struggle to find these words helpful. They find themselves in an abusive relationship and hear these words as a demand to denigrate themselves and doubt their abilities and submit to oppression by force. For these people they understand that not all struggles and suffering are redemptive. They are leery of any blanket statement that keeps people down.

 

Commentator Dr. Davis Lose in his weekly blog “In the Meantime”, helped me to see that there is a third way to look at these words. I think that sometimes we are so keenly aware of Jesus describing his impending suffering and death that we assume it was all part of some divine plan. But, what if, instead, God’s plan was to send Jesus to bear a word of redemption and love and grace to the world and the cross just happened to be the result? You see, it’s not that the only way God could think of redeeming us was for God’s son to be violently put to death for our sins – perfect sacrifice in exchange for our sinfulness. Rather what if God’s plan in Jesus coming among us was to bear this good news of love and acceptance and new life even though Jesus knew that we would likely respond by rejecting the message and killing the messenger. So, you see, the cross was not Jesus’ goal, but rather the outcome of his faithfulness to God’s desire for the world in the face of unfaithful people. Jesus didn’t choose the cross but rather trusted God to work through the cross for the sake of the world.

 

Likewise, the cross isn’t something we choose, but something that finds us. Sometimes what is redemptive in our suffering is obvious – the sacrifices we make for family and friends and community. And sometimes it’s hard to tell if there is anything good, let alone redemptive in the suffering we see and experience. And yet, Christ identifies with all our suffering, takes it all on himself in his suffering, and promises to meet us in ours and walk with us through it, all the way to the other side – all the way to new life in his name.