Today we being the third and final section of Matthew’s Gospel. We begin with Jesus explaining what will have to happen, and we’ll close on Friday, December 22 with Jesus’s final instructions to his disciples, after the Resurrection. This final section is powerful, and if we read through it with open minds, it will change us.

Let’s GO.

Matthew 16:21-28

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must 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. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

This third and final section of Matthew’s Gospel begins with a one-sentence summary from Jesus of all that will happen:

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must 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. [16:21]

This verse is a thesis statement and a prediction of all that will follow. But when Jesus begins to tell the disciples that he is going to Jerusalem to suffer and die, Peter pulls him aside and rebukes him.

Why?

Because Peter wants to believe that salvation is possible without suffering and he misunderstands that for Jesus to be faithful to his mission he will have to suffer and die.

Jesus knows that suffering is inevitable, and I think the reason he reacts so strongly to Peter—“Get behind me, Satan!"—is precisely because the main temptation Jesus faces is the temptation to seek the crown without the cross. (Remember the testing in the wilderness in chapter 4.) Jesus doesn't need Peter speaking the devil's words into his ear—the way of the cross is difficult enough.

Things haven't changed. Suffering is part of life, and the faithful will suffer. The Cross comes before the Crown. Good Friday comes before Easter Sunday.

But of course, if suffering is part of life—and I'm certain that it is— that means that you will suffer if you choose faithfulness, and you will suffer if you don't choose faithfulness: both the faithful and the unfaithful suffer. The question is, will we suffer because we are walking the Way of Jesus, or because we are trying to seek our own way? Both ways are difficult, but only one way leads to life.

The sacrifice is worth it.

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” [16:24-25]

Which way are you going to choose today?