Obedience at the Fork in the Road

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are a reflection on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/hear-a-message]

As an English teacher and a novice linguist, I’ve always been amused by Jesus’ words to his disciple in Matthew 16:18. Speaking to Peter, whose name means “rock”, Jesus says, “You are Peter [rock], and on this rock I will build my church.” Although this may not be the funniest pun, I like to think that Jesus’ clever play-on-words was not lost on his early followers.

But while the puns continue, the tone changes quickly. Just five verses later, Jesus rebukes Peter, referring to him as “Satan” and a “stumbling block” rather than a sturdy foundation. It may still be a play-on-words, but the humor is conspicuously absent.

Those of us who read with Western eyes may think that Jesus’ words are a bit harsh. After all, Jesus does compare Peter to “Satan”. But when we understand that “Satan” here translates to “adversary”, we come to a deeper understanding of Jesus’ displeasure. Peter has run out ahead of Jesus, and in so doing, has overrun his rabbi and taken on an adversarial role. Jesus issues a pointed reminder to Peter that he would do well to return to his place as disciple, his place behind Jesus, the place he first occupied when Jesus first extended the call to “Come, follow me” (Matt. 4:19).

Some of us run on ahead of Jesus with regularity. We believe that because of previous experience we know best, or we want something now that we know we ought to wait for, and so we put our own plans ahead of God’s. The call to discipleship is not an easy one, even though we may bear it lightly from time to time. When it’s time to deny ourselves, it is then we see what kind of disciples we are. At that fork in the road, where Jesus calls us to sacrifice what we want to preserve, or when Jesus calls us to forgive what we want to begrudge, then we see what kind of Peter we are—whether we are the foundation or the stumbling block, the adversary or the disciple. Jesus, of course, showed us the way to the ultimate denial of self: he was “obedient to death--even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8) and because of him we bear our sins and shame no more.

[Kristin vanEyk attends Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. Find out more about Encounter at http://myencounterchurch.org/]