Readings for today: Mark 7-8, Psalms 98
In the temptation narrative from Luke’s Gospel, there is a line that has always stood out to me. After Jesus successfully resists the enemy, Luke says Satan departed “until an opportune time.” As I’ve reflected on these words over the years, it seems clear to me that throughout the rest of the Gospels, a careful reader can see moments where Satan has returned to tempt Jesus yet again. Tempt Him to be self-sufficient (turn stones into bread). Tempt Him with self-promotion (throw yourself off the Temple). And finally and most insidiously, tempt Him to achieve all His Father wants for Him but without the cross. Without the suffering. Without the pain. Without the death. “I will give you all the nations of the earth if you will worship me”, says Satan.
In today’s reading we see the Apostle Peter at his best and his worst. One moment he is declaring Jesus to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. And Peter hasn’t come to that realization on his own, he has received a revelation from the Father. In that moment, Peter becomes a vessel for the Holy Spirit to speak just as He did at Jesus’ baptism and will do on the Mount of Transfiguration. And then the script flips. Jesus starts talking about what the Father has planned for the Christ. He starts talking about suffering and rejection and death. Peter’s fears get the best of him and Satan sees an “opportune time.” He speaks through Peter to Jesus offering yet again a way to accomplish all the Father has planned without any of the pain. Jesus sees right through him - literally - and confronts him directly. “Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.” (Mark 8:33 CSB)
None of us want to suffer. None of us want to endure hardship or pain. All of us do our best to avoid trials and tribulations. And we certainly don’t want to die. But Jesus is clear. If anyone would be His disciple, they must take up a cross. They must deny themselves. They must lose their lives. Only when we embrace this way of life, this way of suffering, this way of self-denial, this way of dying every single day, will we become the people God has created us to be. Only by following the path Jesus lays out for us, will we find the image of God being renewed and restored in us. Only by seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, will we receive the blessings He has stored up for us. All other roads lead to hell. All other paths are dead ends. All other ways are temptations offered to us by Satan. May we say, with Jesus, get behind me!
Readings for tomorrow: Mark 9-10, Psalms 99