Jesus' Rebuke

One rebuke deserves another. Peter merely thought his rebuke was warranted; Jesus knew His was. Jesus is not shy about rebuking His disciples when they need it. Jesus doesn't sugar coat things, especially something as important as the death, burial and resurrection. When critical matters are at stake there is no room for niceness. So Jesus responds to Peter's rebuke with a threefold rebuke of His own. The first prong of the rebuke identifies Peter with the activity of Satan. Jesus was not merely calling Peter a name. He already gave Simon the name Peter. Jesus was saying that Peter's thinking was more in line with Satan's than His. Jesus did a similar thing in John 8 with the Jewish leaders telling them that their father was Satan, the father of lies. Peter had stumbled badly into enemy territory without even knowing it. Peter's intent was good, but dead wrong. He thought he was serving God's kingdom, but he had actually given aid and comfort to the enemy, and that is treason. Jesus is also letting us know that we can find ourselves on the wrong side of a matter and actually be opposing God. Gamaliel's advise in Acts 5 is wise. We must be careful not to be fighting against God.

Jesus' second prong of the rebuke is recorded by Matthew only. Jesus tells Peter that he is a stumbling block to Him. The word is scandalon. It is used often in Scripture. Jesus Himself is a stumbling block to the Jews (1 Cor.1). It is anything that hinders one from the goal. Peter was not being an encouragement. He was making Jesus' road more difficult. It is recorded that John the Baptist's mission was to prepare the way for the Lord. He was to lift up the low places and level out the high places making the way smooth, as slaves would make the road smooth for a coming king. But, Peter was creating pot holes for Jesus. Again, how do we do this? How do we make the mission of Jesus on earth more difficult by our actions? Do we slow Jesus' mission to take the world by our selfish decisions? I can certainly say that as one who tries to follow Jesus and to fulfill His missions in places like Haiti, Kenya, and Sarasota, the way is often made more difficult by friends and not enemies.

The third prong of the rebuke concerned Peter's mindset. He did not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. He did not put God's interests first, but his own. It is so easy to rationalize here. I can make it seem that I have God's interest at heart while all the while doing what I want to do. We saw this in Jesus' words about Corbin in Matthew 15. We all need to constantly check ourselves regarding this. Whose interest am I serving? Mine or His? The word could be "mindset." What do we set our minds on? It is used in Phil.2:5 regarding the mind of Jesus who totally submitted to the cross. We are to have this mind in us. In this we see Peter's struggle to have the mind of Christ. He was 180 degrees off course on this one. His thinking was totally upside down. How could Peter be so blind as to oppose the very center of God's will? Peter deserved Jesus' rebuke. But the rebuke was meant to help, and not harm. It was correction and should be received as such. We see that Peter did and became one of the greatest evangelist ever seen in the kingdom of God.