Jonah
Once more religious leaders come to Jesus and demand a sign. Once more, Jesus denies them the miracle
which they seek. Once more we understand
that it isn’t that Jesus cannot do the miracle; Jesus knows that they are only
looking for a way to trap Him. The
religious leaders are no longer looking to discern about Jesus. The religious leaders are looking for ways to
incite the crowd against Jesus.
How sad it is for people to attempt to trap spiritual people and
demean their ministry. People who are genuinely
spiritual do not look for ways to devalue other spiritual people. After all, if something is from God, then it
is from God! Truly spiritual people
recognize where God is at work and looks for ways to support God’s work – even when
it looks differently than what they envision.
Leaven
This point brings us to a moment of Jesus teaching the
disciples. Jesus tells the disciples to
be careful about the leaven of the Pharisees.
Of course, the disciples don’t get what Jesus is talking about at
first. Rather, they think that Jesus is
still upset about the fact that they weren’t prepared for the feeding of the
4,000. Sometimes, human beings can be a
little slow on the uptake. I know I can
be!
However, Jesus eventually gets His point across to the
disciples. Jesus is telling His
disciples to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees. Jesus is telling them to be cautious of those
who would pull them away from Him or teach contrary to how He is teaching.
I think this is a really astute point for us to hear. What is the old phrase? Divide and conquer? That is precisely what Jesus is telling the
disciples here. Jesus wants them to be
careful that the teaching of the Pharisees doesn’t drive a wedge between
them. Jesus wants His disciples to stay
focused on the teaching of righteousness, not the petty bickering and
power-mongering that the Pharisees are all about. Nothing is more destructive to the work of
any ministry than when its constituents begin to argue amongst themselves and
bicker.
Peter’s Confession
The next story that we have in this chapter is the first part of a
classic theological side-by-side. Here
in this story, Jesus asks in what manner the people are talking about Him. Some people are saying that Jesus is a
prophet – even Elijah or Jeremiah.
Others are saying that Jesus is John the Baptist reincarnated. {I’ve
always struggled with this one. Jesus
and John the Baptist lived at the same time!} The point the disciples are making is that
there is a lot of confusion about who Jesus is.
As I wrote that last sentence, I was struck for a moment. Ever have a moment where you are going along
and then all of a sudden you just “get” something – maybe even something from
God? When Jesus was alive, there was
confusion about who He was. People
argued about who He was. Aren’t people
still arguing about who He is? Isn’t
there still mass confusion over the identity of Jesus?
This pulls me into a debate about identity. I think many times we as Christians argue
with one another because we feel it necessary to assert our own understanding
of Jesus’ identity above what other people believe as Jesus’ identity. However, the problem is that in asserting our
own understanding we are missing the truth in scripture: Jesus’ real
identity. We are so busy asserting our
own beliefs that sometimes we stop listening to the simplicity of scripture.
Which brings us nicely to Peter’s confession. “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of
the living God.” Brilliant. Elegant.
Something to which a person could genuinely submit. Jesus is the Son of the living God. He, not us, asserts His authority in the
kingdom. He gives us authority – the keys
to the kingdom, if you will. We do not
give ourselves authority, He gives it to us.
He tells us His identity when we submit to Him; we don’t discern His
identity out of our own power.
Peter’s Blunder
This discussion leads us right into Peter’s blunder. After getting the confession right, what is
the next thing that Peter does? He falls
back into His own conceptions. Life
becomes more about asserting his belief than about listening to God. Peter has thirty seconds of brilliance before
he stumbles right back into the world.
Trust me, I know that feeling!
Jesus starts to talk about His death and resurrection. Peter will have none of it. Peter wants things to go the route of little
pain. Peter wants to go the route of
happiness and joy and … few bumps. What
did Matthew tell us in Matthew 7 about which road is smooth and with few
bumps? Oh yeah. The wide road. The one that leads to destruction.
When we assert ourselves we stop listening to God. When we stop listening to God we take a
direct on-ramp off of the narrow road and onto the wide road. It’s so easy to do. I’ve been right there before.
Take Up Your Cross
I love how this chapter ends.
Matthew has shown Peter at the mountaintop. Matthew then showed Peter fall as if in
freefall to the pit of error. What is
the next story we get? Take up your
cross and follow me.
What is the way out of error?
Submission. We err when we
assert ourselves. So how do we avoid
error? Submit. Submit.
Submit. When we are tired of
submitting, it probably means we should submit even more.
“Take up your cross,” Jesus says.
“Follow me,” Jesus says. Jesus
doesn’t say, “Hey, create a church that does everything just the way you want
it to be done.” Jesus doesn’t say, “When
things don’t go your way, grumble and complain.” Jesus says, “Focus on submitting to God.” Actually, the words Jesus uses are far more
challenging. “Deny yourself.” When things aren’t going the way you think
they should be going, our first response shouldn’t be “complain.” Rather, our first response should be, “Is
this of God? If so, then I have found a
way to deny myself and get on board with what God is doing.”
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