Can you imagine being a follower of Jesus, for a couple of years, and learning and believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, then suddenly His message changes? That is how it was for Jesus' disciples. After learning about living a servant life of love and compassion for others, Jesus' message to the disciples changes from "repent and be saved" to an announcement that He will die and be raised again on the third day!
Talk about having your mind blown!
"From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life," (Matthew 16:21 NIV).
My response would be like Peter's, "Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!" (Matthew 16:22 NIV).
How can this possibly be true? We are getting along so well! Our numbers are growing daily!
Jesus calls Peter out for his human reaction and his thoughts as a man, not as things of God. Peter just wanted to protect Jesus from the terrible things He was saying would happen.
Me, too! Jesus is my Savior. He is the perfect Man who is showing us how to live! How can we possibly go on without Him?
But Jesus had a purpose to fulfill. He came to earth from Heaven to suffer the painful death on a cross so we would have eternal life with Him.
Oh, thank You, Lord, for sending Your Son to save us from our sins. Thank You for enduring the pain and suffering that was ours. As believers, we know this was the only way to save the world from satan. Help us be brave enough and strong enough to take up our crosses and follow You all the way to Golgotha. We praise You and worship You with our whole hearts. We pray in Jesus' Name, Amen.
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