“Who Do You Say Jesus Is, and Why Does It Matter? Part 3: Peter Gets It Wrong” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, August 30^th, 2026, Year A / Proper 17 – I Peter 2:2-8a  ¨  Matthew 16:21-28

THEME:  Discipleship involves self-denial and suffering, and it is the only way to new life.

This sermon series on who we say Jesus is and why it matters has been full of surprises. Two weeks ago, we saw that the Canaanite woman, of all people, recognized and honored Jesus as Lord.   Last week, Peter took that a step further. When Jesus asked his disciples who they say he is, Peter said “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Like any teacher, Jesus was ecstatic. Peter has been watching and learning. He gets it – hallelujah!

But then this week the curriculum changes. Jesus begins teaching his disciples that he has to suffer and die at the hands of the authorities, before being resurrected on the third day. This is hard stuff. It’s like going from elementary school arithmetic to college level calculus. For Peter, this is incomprehensible. In his mind, death is unthinkable for God’s Messiah. So, he pulls Jesus aside and has the temerity to rebuke him. “God forbid it! This must never happen to you, Lord!” He says it with all the confidence of the precocious student who has gotten an A on the mid-term exam and thinks he has mastered the whole course, but has no idea what is required to pass the final. Suffering, death and resurrection is God’s plan for his Messiah.  Peter does not realize it, but he is actively working against God’s plan.

That is why, in Jesus’ eyes, Peter goes from the rock on which he will build his church to a stumbling block from Satan. Time for Jesus to teach his disciples a hard lesson. “If any want to become my followers,” he says, “Let them deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.” In other words, not only will I have to give up my life, but the same is required of you disciples. You have to give up your life in order to save your life.  Trying to save your life, will mean losing your life.

It sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? This is some hard teaching.  Jesus will tell his disciples this same thing 3 more times before they reach Jerusalem. They still won’t get it. Only after he is resurrected will they finally understand what God has done through his suffering. Why does Peter get it so wrong? Some background will help us understand that.

The disciples and pretty much every other Jew they know are all keenly aware what scripture promises:  a Messiah who will deliver Israel from foreign occupation and oppression. They all know Israel’s history. They know about the brief success of the Maccabean revolt 200 years ago. They have all heard the stories about current day heroes like Zadok the Pharisee and Judah the Galillean. They led the failed revolt against Rome 30 years before. Now, scripture and history combine to shape their expectations.  They expect the Messiah to overthrow the Romans, sit on David’s throne, and restore his kingdom to its full glory of 1,000 years earlier.

They are absolutely sure they know God’s plan. It’s obvious, isn’t it? So, no wonder they are alarmed, frustrated and disappointed when Jesus announces that he has to die. He is defying all their hopes and expectations. Have you ever felt like that? You are in a situation where it is crystal clear in your mind what God should do. You fully expect him to do just that. But then God does something else, something completely different, and it dashes all your hopes and expectations?  It’s frustrating and disorienting, isn’t it? It even makes us question God. That is exactly how Peter feels.

Jesus’ lesson for Peter is his message to us. The only way to have the new life Jesus makes possible is to give up our old life. We have to do what Jesus commands us to do, even when it means denying our own desires and ambitions. There is an old saying. Salvation is free, but it will cost you everything. Few have ever embodied this better than Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran German pastor who opposed the Nazi regime in the 1930s. At a time when the German Protestant Church was appeasing Adolph Hitler, Bonhoeffer formed an alternative group of pastors called the Confessing Church.  Together they resisted the Nazis.

In 1937, Bonhoeffer wrote his most famous book, “The Cost of Discipleship.”  There he described what he called costly grace. He wrote, “When Christ calls you, he bids you to come and die.” He was not advocating self-inflicted suffering, or the total rejection of the world. He meant that we have to submit to God’s will and follow Christ’s command, even when it is difficult, even when it requires us to do what we would rather not. 

I’ve been thinking this week about what that means for you and me.  The truth is that we Christians have always struggled to navigate the tricky path between pursuing earthly power of money, position and prestige, and the higher power of God’s self-giving, self-sacrificial love. Our current struggle is with the temptation to embrace the heresy of Christian Nationalism.  This is nothing more than the misguided attempt to coopt God into supporting our human aspirations to political power.  

As Reformed Christians, we trust that God is sovereign over all of life – we are not. God’s will is supreme – our will is not. All things in heaven and on earth are subject to Christ and his gospel. But, being human, we would rather place God at the service of our own ends, our own power, and our own political views. This is true all across the political spectrum. We not only feel certain that we know God’s plan, we think we can shape it to serve our own desires.

That is exactly what Peter and the disciples are doing. In response to such misguided assumptions, Jesus says the same thing to us as he did to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan!” God’s plan is always much bigger and far better than ours. With the blessing of hindsight, we know that, in Jesus Christ, God defeated the greatest enemy of all:  death itself. Because he did, you and I know true life - life that truly glorifies God and serves our neighbors.

So, the question for us, as we look forward to what God will do in our lives and our world, is this. Are we seeking God’s will, or our own? Are we open to what God has in mind for us, even if it seems contrary to our expectations? We can be sure of two things. 

First, whatever God’s plan is, it will mean following Jesus in carrying our cross.  Second, it will involve sharing his self-sacrificial love with all. Finally, in the end, it will be what is best for us.

This is the theme that runs through all the hymns we sing this day. But we need to do more than just sing about it. We need to live it.

May it be so.