Scripture: Matthew 16:13-23 Click here for the reading
Observation: Just when Peter figures it out and confesses Jesus as Lord and Messiah, he misses the whole point. Jesus is not going to do what we want Jesus the Messiah to do. Jesus reinforces the difference by predicting his death. The Son of Man WILL suffer many things, be handed over by religious leaders, and DIE! Yikes! Jesus is just not very safe. But Peter (we) wants him to be.
Application: In my view of how Christ is talked about in popular culture and North American society that Jesus is very sanitized and cleaned up. This scripture reminds us that Jesus is not safe at al. He is willing to go to the cross and take on the mess of the world. it is an image that is filled with death and blood and suffering: things that make us uncomfortable. There is a strand of Christianity that would prefer Jesus not to have to go to so much trouble and wouldn't it be great if we could skip the whole Good Friday and jump ahead to easter. yet in the lenten season we are able to see the cross emerge before us and watch as Jesus embrace that cross, that mess, that blood, that death. Jesus doesn't hope that we have a good weekend, Jesus hope for us is much deeper than that. His life was marked with a suffering we cannot imagine, so that we know that God is willing to be in the mess of our life. If we sterilize this message, we sanitize the crux of the gospel message.
How does the gospel make us uncomfortable?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for risking your life on our behalf, help us to embrace the cross you set before us, knowing that you have overcome the cross to provide us with real life, abundant and eternal.
Application: In my view of how Christ is talked about in popular culture and North American society that Jesus is very sanitized and cleaned up. This scripture reminds us that Jesus is not safe at al. He is willing to go to the cross and take on the mess of the world. it is an image that is filled with death and blood and suffering: things that make us uncomfortable. There is a strand of Christianity that would prefer Jesus not to have to go to so much trouble and wouldn't it be great if we could skip the whole Good Friday and jump ahead to easter. yet in the lenten season we are able to see the cross emerge before us and watch as Jesus embrace that cross, that mess, that blood, that death. Jesus doesn't hope that we have a good weekend, Jesus hope for us is much deeper than that. His life was marked with a suffering we cannot imagine, so that we know that God is willing to be in the mess of our life. If we sterilize this message, we sanitize the crux of the gospel message.
How does the gospel make us uncomfortable?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for risking your life on our behalf, help us to embrace the cross you set before us, knowing that you have overcome the cross to provide us with real life, abundant and eternal.
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