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 be raised up on the third day.
Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.
It was hard enough to go to the cross. Added to the suffering was the lack of understanding and support from His friends. Peter expressed the confusion by telling Jesus ‘this will never happen to you’. He didn’t understand that as hideous as the notion was that the Son of God and Savior of the world would suffer the indignity and undeserved, tortuous death imaginable, it was God’s plan. In God’s economy the penalty for sin is death. Jesus was the propitiation or payment for the sins of all mankind. Its hard to embrace the idea still today.
Am I in sync with God’s redemptive plan in the world? Am I a co-laborer with Christ in expressing God’s love and plan of salvation to a lost world?
God, I know that Jesus had to go to the cross. Had there been another way, He would have taken it. May I say as He did “not my will, but thine be done”. As this day begins, I am asking You for favor as I meet on projects, make decisions, balance budgets, and preach the prophecies of the Bible.
