The Barefoot Evangelist

Read Matthew 16:21-28 with your family.

Have you ever had someone you love tell you something you really didn’t want to hear? That’s what happens to Peter in today’s story. Jesus tells his friends that going to Jerusalem will be dangerous. Peter doesn’t like that at all. He loves Jesus, and he wants to protect him. So Peter tells Jesus that this terrible thing must never happen.

Jesus answers Peter very strongly: “Get behind me, Satan!” That sounds shocking, especially when Peter is trying to help. But Jesus isn’t saying that Peter is suddenly a bad person. Peter is trying to convince Jesus to choose the easier road instead of doing what Jesus believes God is calling him to do. Sometimes people who love us can still be wrong about what is best for us. Sometimes we can be wrong even when we are trying to help.

Then Jesus tells his followers that following him won’t always be easy. He talks about “taking up your cross.” Jesus isn’t telling us to go looking for suffering or to stay quiet when someone hurts us. He is saying that following him can cost us something. Being kind when everyone else is being cruel, telling the truth when lying would be easier, standing beside someone who is being left out, or doing what is right when your friends think it’s weird can all take courage.

Peter wanted to keep Jesus safe. That wasn’t a bad thing to want. But Jesus needed Peter to learn that loving someone doesn’t always mean making everything easy for them. Following Jesus means learning to choose what is loving, just and right – even when another choice would be much easier.

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