Holy Week: Reality Check

He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” -- Mark 8:29-33


Knowing there is a God is not the same as knowing God, is it? Acknowledging the initial fact is only the first step on a precipitous, arduous path that most of us choose not to take.

When Peter correctly identifies Jesus as Messiah, he does so with stars in his eyes. He has seen incredible miracles. He has heard astounding sermons. He has stood with Jesus before enormous, adoring crowds. He feels the power and the glory, but he doesn’t know the half of it.

You see, Peter and his fellow followers had always looked to the horizon for a great, conquering Messiah on a charging war-horse, come to set everything right and redeem at last the chosen people in one fell swoop, whisking them off to glory and honor while the other folks were knocked down and left behind. Jesus has to repeatedly, firmly, unequivocally correct this misguided notion. The profane always resist the profound. The gentle are bruised by the harsh. Story time is over, Peter. Wake up to reality.

It is a risky business pointing these things out, but to this day, the would-be followers of Christ regularly require the cold, hard slap of reality. Get behind me, Satan, the truth is the cancer sometimes comes back. Get behind me, Satan, the speeding car doesn’t always stop in time. Get behind me, Satan, starting our third “War to End All Wars” won’t result in Christ coming on the clouds any quicker than did numbers I and II. Prosperity Gospel?!?!?!? Get thee behind me, Satan, God doesn’t intend to be my Santa Claus. God intends for me to be someone else’s Jesus.

“Love God with everything you’ve got, and consider everyone else’s well being to be as vital as your own,” Christ said, summing up the message of all the prophets and scripture from A to Z. Now you and I both know that neither one of us is all that successful in carrying out these two simple requirements. They run counter to what it takes to make our way in this world. Ah, but if we are followers of Christ, the way we are supposed to make in the world isn’t our own, is it?

If I am following Christ to be somehow richly blessed in this world, I might want to turn around now and go back to square one. If I am following Christ to somehow richly bless this world -- yes, here is the path to peace, enlightenment and the kingdom of God.


“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”—Mark 8:35