elementor domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /mnt/customers/customers-bh-108dcf/575c8d22-9e37-4570-b449-7bc62225f920/wp-content/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6260
The death of Jesus on a cross has been described as ‘folly’ and ‘weakness’. It is not hard to understand why. Even Jesus’ own disciples found it offensive. However, Jesus himself taught that his death on a cross was central to his entire mission and rule.
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
This transcript has been automatically generated
Matthew chapter 16, reading from verse 13. Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from 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, Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man. One of the aspects of the eyewitness accounts of the life and teaching of Jesus which most enhances their credibility is the poor light in which the eyewitnesses themselves are portrayed.
Over the years, I have read the Gospel accounts repeatedly, on numerous occasions, with countless individuals, and frequently individuals from a legal background. Time and again, when those from a legal background are reading these eyewitness accounts, they will say, this just reads like firsthand eyewitness courtroom testimony. On what basis? Well, usually if there’s been a stitch-up, everything agrees absolutely exactly on every detail, whereas between the 4 Gospel accounts there are minor variations. Additionally, if there’s been a stitch-up, usually the eyewitnesses appear, well, rose-tinted.
And in the Gospels, the eyewitnesses appear in such poor light. There are few places in the Gospel where this is more, or rather less, the case than in these 5 chapters that we are currently studying. It’s as if the disciples lurch from one great blunder to the next. So, at the feeding of the 5,000, they fail. When it comes to walking on water, Peter initially succeeds, but then Jesus says to him, O you of little faith.
In the confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus then turns to the disciples and says, are you still without understanding? With the Canaanite woman, the disciples, send her away, she keeps crying out after us. They appear to be heartless and bigoted. The feeding of the 4,000, exactly the same mistake as the feeding with the 5,000. Haven’t they learned anything?
And then again, confrontation with the Pharisees in chapter 16, just before what we have just read, do you not yet perceive? How is it that you fail to understand?
Now, of all the blunders that the disciples in our section make, today’s is perhaps the greatest. It certainly is the greatest fall, if you like, from height to depth. Peter lurches from chapter 16, verses 17 and 18.
Peter is asked, who do you say that I am? He replies, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, in verse 16. Verse 17, Jesus answered, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, Peter, You are Peter, which means rock, and on this rock I will build My church. And now, look at verse 23, He turned to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan!
You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. I mean, there can be few greater falls in terms of distance from height to depth. From, blessed are you, on this rock I will build my church, to, you’re satanic, get behind me.
Now, personally, I am very, very grateful for the disciples’ blunders and their honesty in recording their blunders for us. What is it they say of somebody who has never made a mistake? Well, they haven’t learned much. And what do they say to the one who won’t learn from their mistakes? They will always remain pretty stupid.
And it is a lot less painful to learn from the mistakes of others. I remember when I was in training in the army many, many years ago, I remember somebody in my little group making such a massive blunder and thinking, do you know, I think I probably would have done the same thing in his shoes. I am not going to do that. And possibly you’ve had that on your trading floor. Somebody’s lost a couple of million, maybe more.
3 lessons. The suffering of Jesus, the cross, is essential to his kingdom. The teaching of the cross is offensive even to would-be members of his kingdom. The denial of the cross is a denial of his kingdom.
So we looked at verses 17 through 20 last week. 21, 22, and 23— just 3 verses, just 3 lessons. The suffering of Jesus at the cross is essential to his kingdom.
Verse 21 contains one little word that is absolutely key. It’s that little word must. From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, scribes, be killed, and on the 3rd day be raised. The word must means to bind, to tie. It’s an essential part of his kingship.
How Jesus knew that the Christ must suffer, well, we’re not told here. We are told that he began to show his disciples education.
Elsewhere we read that beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself?
I take it that the Lord Jesus began to show the disciples from the Scriptures that the Christ, God’s King— we were thinking about that last week— must go to Jerusalem and suffer.
Throughout the Bible, God makes it plain that for his King to rule this broken world, suffering is inevitable.
We could go to Psalm 22. Here, God’s King experiences the hostility and opposition of those who reject God. Of course, good is always opposed by evil. In a world which rejects God and despises God the Creator, God’s King, as he stands centre stage for truth and integrity, good and purity, He will always be despised.
So Psalm 22, many bulls surround me, they open wide their mouth at me. I’m poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Psalm 69, you know my reproach, my shame and dishonour. They persecute me, dishonour has covered my face.
In a world which rejects God, put God’s King centre stage, he will always be opposed. The Christ must suffer. Psalm 22, Psalm 69, we could go to countless places.
But throughout the Bible, the redemption or the salvation that God wins for his people is always made possible through Sin sacrifice, suffering sacrifice. If a person is going to be saved and rescued from this broken rebellious world, it is always necessary that there is some payment for our own personal rebellion, our part in it.
So you see that in the Passover when God’s people are freed from slavery in Egypt, how is that made possible? Only through the sacrifice of the Passover lamb.
We see it at the Day of Atonement. How is it that God can dwell in all His perfection amongst a people who are, in essence, rebellious against God? Only through the sacrifice as sin is dealt with. Perhaps most obviously, Isaiah 53, all we like sheep have gone astray, We have turned everyone to his/her own way. The Lord, God in heaven, has laid on him, his suffering King, the iniquity of us all, the sin of us all.
It’s there as early as Genesis chapter 22 when God provides a sacrifice. In place of Isaac.
So, for God’s ruler to come into this world, a rebellious world, inevitably there is going to be suffering. For God to rescue a people for himself to belong to him, there has to be a way for the offensive sin and rebellion of people to be paid for. Otherwise, we simply can’t have dealings with a holy God. He can’t play let’s pretend. God is just.
Sin must be dealt with and punished rightly.
And God is pure.
And we all have our own rebellion. What is it that Jesus said earlier in this piece? Out of the heart of man come all these evil things, thoughts, greed, adultery. Just this morning, all of us will be conscious of that.
Foundational then to the rule of King Jesus is the cross of Christ.
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from elders, chief priests, scribes, and be killed, and on the 3rd day be raised. Well, John Stott has written a whole book on the cross of Christ. It remains, in my opinion, still the best book that you can get if you want to do some serious, I mean, serious grown-up. You can’t read this while you are watching the Test match. It requires serious study.
It would be worth reading over Christmas if you have never read it. Only God, our Lord and Creator, could stand surety for us, could take our place, could suffer eternal death in our stead as the consequence of our sin in such a way that it was finally suffered, paid for, atoned for, overcome.
Man is alienated from God by sin. God is alienated from man by wrath. It is the substitutionary death of Christ that overcomes sin and averts wrath, so that God can look on man without displeasure and man can look on God without fear. Sin is expiated, God is propitiated. It’s great, isn’t it?
God can look on you in love without judgement if the punishment has been paid. We can look on God without fear if the punishment has been paid. And so, the suffering of the Christ is essential to his kingdom. Do you know the children’s chorus?
At the cross of Jesus, pardon is complete. Love and justice mingle, truth and mercy meet. Though my sins condemn me, Jesus died instead. There is full forgiveness in the blood he shed.
And so, we can see Peter’s blunder, can’t we? I mean, it’s lovely to learn from the mistakes of somebody else. You are the Christ. Blessed are you, Simon. I’m going to build my church, my people, on this rock that Jesus Christ is Lord.
I must go to my death. That can never happen to you. Get behind me, Satan.
And it seems that there is something that Peter has understood. He’s got a glimpse of Jesus. It’s been revealed to him, verse 17, not by flesh and blood, by God himself.
But he’s still thinking in a thoroughly fleshly way.
So, we come to Peter’s great mistake, verse 22, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. I mean, the That sentence on its own is chilling, isn’t it? He has just recognised Jesus as the Christ. He took Jesus to one side. Was he wagging his finger?
You know, did he grab him by the lapels? I just don’t know. But, you know, you have probably— we have all been taken to what we call an interview without coffee. You have probably had an interview without coffee once or twice. Jesus is taken for an interview without coffee by Peter.
It’s extraordinary, isn’t it?
The teaching of the cross is offensive even to would-be members of the rule of Jesus, the offence of the cross. We can understand why. Have you read Tom Holland’s massive kind of major work, Dominion? Well, you may have started it like most of us. Have you finished it?
Probably not. But, you know, those opening chapters are brutal reading, aren’t they, as they speak about how cultures create public means of humiliation, pain, and suffering as a deterrent.
And Holland points to the cross as kind of, of all the inventions of humanity, the most brutal and ghastly, unspeakably painful and degrading. Whether tied or nailed to the cross, the victim endured countless spasms as he pulled with his arms and pushed with his legs to keep his chest cavity open for breathing, and then collapsed in exhaustion until the demand for oxygen demanded renewed effort. The whipping, the loss of blood, the shock from the pain all produced agony that could go on for days, ending at last by suffocation, cardiac arrest, or loss of blood. When there was reason to hasten death, the execution squad would smash the victim’s leg and legs, and death followed immediately, either from shock or collapse that cut off breathing. Beyond the pain was the shame.
Later rabbis wouldn’t even allow crucifixion as a form of capital punishment for that reason. In Roman law, it was reserved only for the worst criminals, the lowest classes. Cicero described it as a most cruel and disgusting punishment. In a later speech, he said, to bind a Roman citizen is a crime, to flog him is an abomination, to kill him is almost an act of murder, to crucify him is what? There is no fitting word that can possibly describe so horrible a deed.
And among the Jews, the horror was compounded by the fact that God had said in the Old Testament, anyone hanged on a tree is under God’s curse.
So, we can understand Peter’s horror.
One early inscription in a burial place in Rome has an image of a donkey nailed to a tree with a believer kneeling at his feet. Alexamenos worships his god. Crucifixion? Shameful.
Why, it would be as if Donald Trump, Kamala Harris had as one of the key manifesto planks that he or she was going to be executed in an electric chair for gross misconduct.
It would be as if a new CEO was being interviewed for leadership of your corporation, whatever it might be, and said, well, I’ve actually just come out of the most high-security prison cell reserved only for the worst offenders.
And yet, throughout the history of the church, this offence felt by Peter has been experienced by believers. Peter experiences right up to and beyond the crucifixion, doesn’t he? If you think about it, what does Peter do at the arrest of Jesus? He stretched out his hand, drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. You can’t go to the cross.
What do the disciples do following the arrest of Jesus? Then all the disciples left him and fled.
What does Peter do at the trial of Jesus? I never knew the man. I didn’t know this guy. This shameful death.
The idea of associating with or following the suffering crucified Messiah is anathema right up to and beyond the resurrection, and it remains so. The cross, as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 2, is folly to the philosopher. And weakness to the powerful. It is.
I was taught theology in Cambridge many, many years ago now, and I remember the scorn directed by the theological professors towards those who actually believed that Jesus died on the cross to carry God’s judgement at our sin. The only word for it is scorn. You hear it in this book, Honest to Grodd, written by John Robinson, who was a bishop actually back in the 1960s, 1963. The whole schema of a supernatural being coming down from heaven to save mankind from sin in a way that a man might put his finger into a glass of water to rescue a struggling insect is frankly incredible to man come of age.
And so the suffering of Jesus, the cross, yes, it’s essential to the rule of Jesus’ kingdom. It’s offensive even to would-be members of Jesus’ kingdom. Do you know my own experience? Back in 1979, when I first heard that Jesus had died on the cross to take away my sin, I was 18 a half, it was complete news to me.
Now, I may just have been really thick, and probably there’s an element of that, or particularly inattentive. I had been to school assembly every day for 15 years, led by Christians. Now, maybe I just didn’t see it. But genuinely, I don’t think anybody had ever actually explained it to me clearly.
So, the cross, it is offensive. And it may be that you are here and you have had exactly the same. You have been in church, you have gone to chapel, you have been to school assembly, you have kind of had a brush with— you may have even come from a family where people call themselves Christians, but you have never actually understood And in a sense, it’s sort of strangely offensive. You don’t want to get too close to this Jesus who died on the cross.
It’s the essence of it. It’s the crux of it. It is crucial. Without it, we remain in our sin under God’s judgement. The gates of heaven, if you like, are still brass.
We’re cut off from God, rightly. Justice must be done. And when we meet God our judge, we will face his punishment.
It’s absolutely essential, offensive it may be, and denial of it is a denial of His kingdom. Verse 23, here we come to the crunch. He turned to Peter and said, get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. Literally, you are a skandalon.
You are a stumbling block to me. Peter has moved from being the rock which Christ will build his church to the block over which Jesus will stumble. It’s extraordinary, isn’t it? You’re a stumbling block to me. Satanic.
It’s pretty strong, isn’t it?
I remember leading one of these Christianity Explored courses, and there was a guy in there first week, and we were talking about Jesus and Jesus being the Christ and God’s King. And all the way through, I think he was from Yorkshire, he was, oh, rubbish, rubbish. You can’t— he was actually he’s sitting in the back row heckling all the way through. Second week, he was sitting, and I didn’t expect to see him again. He was back second week, sitting in the front row.
We talked about the death of Jesus, and as we finished the section that Jesus died on the cross, he said this, what a tragedy. You can understand it, but Jesus’ verdict to that sort of thinking is verse 23. Get behind me, you are a hindrance. You are thinking a worldly way.
It is satanic because it plays into the hand of Satan. What is it that enables the devil to separate us from God? Our sin. What is it that keeps us imprisoned, if you like, in Satan’s jail? Our sin.
Our sin demands God’s just punishment. Without our sin being dealt with, we remain shut off from God. Our sin cuts us off from God. Your sin separates you from God, and my sin separates me from God. God declares, I shall by no means acquit the guilty.
He can’t just let us off and sweep it under the carpet. God is just. God insists, the wages of sin is death. He can’t just say, oh, well, the wages needn’t be paid. God is fair.
It’s as if there is a great metal ceiling. Heaven is closed. But were God to find a way to deal with our sin through sending the Christ, his servant, into the world to suffer on the cross, the essence of the Christian faith, the heart of his kingdom, the firing pin, if you like, of Satan’s greatest weapon is removed. The prison cell of Satan’s jail is thrown open. The sting with its lethal venom of Satan’s sting is removed.
Sin has been paid for. And so, to question the cross at the heart of the Christian faith, it comes from the wrong side, the other side. Get behind me, Satan.
It’s also fundamentally human. It underplays the problem. Christ without the cross is, I can fix it myself, Christianity. Christ without the cross is, the problem isn’t that bad, Christianity. Christ without the cross is, it’s not really me that’s the matter, Christianity.
Jesus says, I’m afraid out of the heart come all these wicked things. Jesus says, William Taylor, that’s me, is wicked. I just can’t stop these things coming out of my heart. I’m sorry, but I can’t. And nor can you.
And the only way it can be dealt with is if God himself, out of his love, grace, kindness, mercy, goodness, steps into this world.
And in an act of extraordinary sacrifice, the suffering servant goes to his death. All we like sheep have gone astray, we’ve turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord God in heaven has laid on him, the Lord Jesus Christ, the iniquity of us all.
Let’s pray together.
Our Father in heaven, we have so much to learn.
Like Peter, we take so long to realise that you are our God and that the Lord Jesus is your anointed ruler and has right to rule our lives. And like Peter, we don’t grasp the centrality of the cross. We come to the foot of the cross. Our Father in heaven, we praise you for Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross in our place.
And we pray that you would open our eyes to see what it means, and our hearts and wills to follow you gladly in full surrender.
And we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
