Matthew 16:21-23 21From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that it was necessary for him to 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. 22And taking him aside, Peter began to rebuke him, saying, “Mercy to you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23But turning, he said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me because you are not thinking the things of God, but on the things of people.”
From that time on indicates a shift in the narrative of Matthew marking a significant turning point in Jesus’ ministry. The time had come to head towards Jerusalem and the cross. Up to this point, Jesus has revealed his power and authority as the Messiah. Many people had come to put their faith in him. The disciples also believed but were still confused. It would take the cross, resurrection, and then the teaching of the Holy Spirit for them to realize all that they had experienced with Jesus. The ones who would open the path to the cross were the Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus. Jesus had to go to the cross and die for the sins of the world, but these opponents were the ones who made it possible from a human perspective. They refused to accept Jesus’ authority as Messiah and thereby missed out on him being Immanuel and Savior.
Jesus was clear in what he told the disciples. He was born to die. This was difficult for them to comprehend. They had ideas of position and power, not humility and pain. They did not realize the way of the cross is the way of love. Human position and power are the way of selfishness that come from inbred sin. But death would not be the end of the matter, for resurrection would overcome even the gates of Hades and change all of eternity. Jesus’ resurrection would prove the truth of all that Jesus taught and promised. Jesus gives a specific timeline of three days. The disciples probably missed the connection of this to the Jonah illustration and other promises of Scripture, such as the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.
The outspoken Peter had a problem with what Jesus just said. His rebuke of Jesus may have been instigated because of his preconceived ideas of what the Messiah should be and do, and these did not include death. Did Peter not catch the idea of resurrection? The word rebuke (epitiman) is strong and has the sense of trying to stop an action, warning, or preventing. Peter did not want Jesus to face all these things. We cannot read into Peter’s statement more than deep concern about Jesus, but Jesus’ response to him suggests more than concern and confusion.
Verse 23 poses several challenges both in interpretation and application. Was Jesus saying that Peter was acting like Satan, or what Jesus addressing Satan in a spiritual conversation? Satan was using this encounter as another attack, like those in the desert when he tempted Jesus. Satan would do anything to keep Jesus from going to the cross, because on the cross, Satan would be forever defeated because his influence over people would be broken through the transforming power of grace in the human heart. The stumbling block was Satan’s attempt to “trip up” Jesus by using a disciple who loved and cared about him. This disciple represented the rest of the disciples and the future church that would one day grow through their witness.
The key problem with Peter’s effort to stop Jesus from going to the cross was that he was focused on human priorities and thinking and not God’s eternal plan. This is the big problem for all of us. We are near-sighted and think only of our own priorities, which often focus on comfort through the collection of material things. We want to avoid the way of the cross because it requires that we submit to God’s will. Jesus came to fulfill the will of the Father, which required that he suffer and die on a cross.
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