The desire to avoid suffering and discomfort is a pretty universal human experience. We like to feel safe, and comfortable, and we complain pretty quickly when we’re inconvenienced or when things don’t go the way we envisioned or planned.
It’s not really surprising then, to see Peter’s reaction in today’s Gospel reading. After confidently declaring Jesus to be “the Messiah, the Son of the Living God”, Peter listens in horror as Jesus describes a vision of the Messiah that is so very far from what Peter had in mind. Great suffering? Death?! What are you saying?! I can almost hear Peter’s urgent whispers as he pulls Jesus aside: “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you!”
Messiahs don’t suffer! Are you kidding? If anything, the Messiah will be the one to inflict suffering on those Roman occupiers, driving them out so that our rightful leader can be elevated to power. That’s the kingdom of heaven, remember?!
Jesus swiftly disabuses him of that notion, however. “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
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| Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash |
There are two main issues with what Peter is suggesting. First, Peter seems to have forgotten his place, relative to Jesus. He is not meant to be telling Jesus what to do or where to go. Instead, Peter, like all disciples, is called to follow. To follow is to watch and learn and imitate the way that Jesus goes. To follow is to love what Jesus loves, and welcome who Jesus welcomes, and to walk toward the suffering of the world, not away from it.
Second, Peter seems to have forgotten that the ways of God are inside-out and upside-down from what we have come to expect from the world. Though it seems unthinkable to us, suffering, death, and resurrection are the means God uses to bring about liberation, wholeness, and life. Love is the power that God wields, not military might. Suffering - not glory, not prestige, not success - is where we see God most clearly.
Jesus lays it out for his disciples like this: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
We cannot follow Jesus without journeying the way of the cross. We cannot follow Jesus while turned inward to our own desires or comfort or self-preservation. Instead, to deny ourselves is to look to the needs of our neighbors, and to find ourselves in their suffering and pain – because that’s where Jesus is. To deny ourselves is to choose to set aside our own comfort and privilege so that we might attend to the safety and well-being of the vulnerable and hurting in our midst.
Sometimes this looks like wearing a face mask to protect others, even if we find it uncomfortable or inconvenient. Sometimes it looks like centering Black and brown voices and experiences, even if we are used to being the center of attention. Sometimes it looks like being willing to receive correction without defensiveness or denial. Sometimes it looks like sitting with the pain and grief of communities different from our own, even if we have the privilege to look away.
As is true with many aspects of life in the kingdom of heaven, to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow goes against everything we’ve been taught about rugged individualism and protecting ourselves. To follow Jesus is to choose a different way, one that looks beyond ourselves to the needs of others. The good news is found in the paradox – in losing our life for Jesus’ sake, we find it. When our gaze is turned away from ourselves and our own desires, we are able to see Jesus. He is found in the face of our neighbors, present in the suffering of the world. He offers us life abundant and eternal. We don’t have to blaze our own trail, or struggle to find our own way. Instead, Jesus calls us to follow him through death into life.
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