Jesus had just praised Peter because he had given the right answer. Jesus had asked his disciples who the people say that he is, and they had responded. But then he turned the same question on the disciples:
Who do you say I am?
“You are the Messah, the Son of the living God,” Peter said.
Jesus explained it was his Father in heaven that had revealed that answer to him and God had blessed him such that he would know and understand.
And so Jesus determined that, now that they knew who he was, the time was right to begin to explain to the disciples what would happen to him. He explained that he would go to Jerusalem. He would be beaten. He would suffer, would be killed, and on the third day rise again.
But Peter couldn’t hear it:
What are you saying, Jesus? Don’t talk like that!
Jesus going to Jerusalem to die wasn’t Peter’s plan. Peter’s plan was that Jesus would go to Jerusalem, overthrow the Romans, establish his throne, and reign forever. That was the plan of the Messiah, wasn’t it?
And yet Jesus called that plan, Peter’s plan, merely a human concern:
Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Matthew 16:23
Peter was interested in seeing Jesus come to power. And he especially had interest in seeing that happen at this point because Jesus had just renamed him to be Peter and to be the one upon whom Jesus would build his church.
But now you’re saying you’re going to die?
We have a plan here, Jesus, he probably thought…
You, whom we just said is the Messiah, going to suffer and die is definitely NOT part of the plan!
But Jesus explained that these are merely human concerns. Jesus was concerned, instead, with the plan of the Father. He was interested in the coming and conquering kingdom of God. Not just the kingdom of Israel. Not just this little territory in the Middle East. No, Jesus is the coming king that will conquer the entire world, and this is the Father’s plan to conquer over the kingdom of darkness. This is his plan to rule over the earth. His son must go to die.
We must be careful to listen to Jesus. We must hear his plan, not substituting our own plans for his.
Jesus is, even today, working to carry out his plan. He has purchased, with his blood, people from every tribe, tongue, and nation and he has called us into service to make disciples of him. Not building our kingdom or kingdoms, but working to build his. May we carefully listen to Jesus, trusting him that his plan is right, and doing what he has called us to do.