The Voice of Satan

 

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you bare not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:31-38 ESV).

 

Our reading today is very insightful as we determine what the “voice of Satan” sounds like. It concerns Peter, who certainly meant well. He was drastically mistaken, however. Peter didn’t like it when Jesus talked about his approaching death and resurrection.

 

A short time earlier, Peter had made the bold profession, “You are the Christ.” But now Peter couldn’t accept Jesus’ words about suffering, rejection, and death. Peter’s vision for Jesus and his fellow disciples was far different from that. So, Peter took Jesus aside and tried to set him straight.

 

Jesus rebuked Peter in the strongest possible language: “Get behind me, Satan! … You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Peter had replaced God’s will with his own. Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth was to “save his people from their sins” (cf. Matthew 1:21).

 

In thankfulness to him we are called to follow his lead, whatever the cost may be. We must honestly admit that we are a lot like Peter. We easily yield to the temptation to make the Christian faith something different than Jesus intends it to be. We want the benefits of Christ’s cross, but we resist the price of following him. Again and again we need to be reminded that in God’s kingdom, life follows death and victory follows surrender. And we will only save what we are willing to lose.