And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
Jesus spoke plainly and openly to the disciples alone about what lay ahead for Him, not worldly honor and a throne but shame, suffering and death. What He foretold included betrayal, trial in the judgment-hall, crucifixion and rising after three days, suffering in Jerusalem as a humble homeless wanderer who would be despised and rejected and put to death. Beyond the poverty and humiliation of the present He also told of His coming in glory, not with an earthly throne but with the glory of God and the hosts of heaven to reward every man according to his works, with the promise that some standing there would not taste death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom. He knew beforehand the anguish, insults and hardships that lay ahead, yet willingly chose to do God's will and give His life to save the lost and win the world back to loyalty to God.
On hearing this, Peter took Him aside and laid hold on Him as if to draw Him back from the suffering and death foretold, and presumptuously began to rebuke Him and tell Him to spare Himself. Peter acted because he and the other disciples misunderstood Christ's mission and expected a temporal kingdom with Christ exalted to the throne of David. Their eyes were fixed on the nearer view of earthly life, so voluntary resignation to cruel humiliation seemed incomprehensible for the Son of God. Peter was unwilling to accept suffering in Christ's mission, thought such an event would bring the church to naught and that the Lord could and must prevent it, and from grief and amazement and love wanted to shield his Lord from suffering and refused to see the cross in Christ's work.
The saying oppressed the disciples with sadness because they loved Him, harassed them with doubt, left them unable to comprehend His words, and made them question why He would go to Jerusalem to meet such treatment and leave them in greater darkness. Peter's rebuke turned their minds from the lesson of the cross Christ desired to impart. Behind Peter's blind love Satan was the author of the thought, putting doubts and unbelief in his mind and using the impulsive appeal to discourage Jesus and turn Him from His mission. Satan sought to fix Peter's gaze on earthly glory instead of the cross, to interpose himself between Peter and his Master so Peter's heart would not be touched by the vision of Christ's humiliation for him, and thus pressed the wilderness temptation upon Jesus again through His disciple. The rebuke drew the severest rebuke Christ ever uttered.
Jesus did not commend this love, because the rebuke gave no help or comfort for the trial before Him, was not in harmony with God's purpose of grace toward a lost world and with the lesson of self-sacrifice He came to teach by His own example, and made an impression directly opposed to what He wanted to fix on His followers. The verse teaches that those who follow Him must also be willing to endure reproach and humiliation for His sake and to win salvation, bearing the cross, giving up worldly hopes and pleasures, and following Him if they are to share His glory. The same work of Satan continues today in putting thoughts of unbelief in the mind and suggesting that truths involving a cross be left out of belief and experience. It wants God's commandments and great moral standard of righteousness blotted out, while welcoming talk of Christ's mercy to save the vilest sinners yet rejecting repentance and the putting away of sin and counting the law of God unwelcome to the carnal heart.
Jesus spoke plainly and openly to the disciples alone about what lay ahead for Him, not worldly honor and a throne but shame, suffering and death. What He foretold included betrayal, trial in the judgment-hall, crucifixion and rising after three days, suffering in Jerusalem as a humble homeless wanderer who would be despised and rejected and put to death. Beyond the poverty and humiliation of the present He also told of His coming in glory, not with an earthly throne but with the glory of God and the hosts of heaven to reward every man according to his works, with the promise that some standing there would not taste death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom. He knew beforehand the anguish, insults and hardships that lay ahead, yet willingly chose to do God's will and give His life to save the lost and win the world back to loyalty to God.
On hearing this, Peter took Him aside and laid hold on Him as if to draw Him back from the suffering and death foretold, and presumptuously began to rebuke Him and tell Him to spare Himself. Peter acted because he and the other disciples misunderstood Christ's mission and expected a temporal kingdom with Christ exalted to the throne of David. Their eyes were fixed on the nearer view of earthly life, so voluntary resignation to cruel humiliation seemed incomprehensible for the Son of God. Peter was unwilling to accept suffering in Christ's mission, thought such an event would bring the church to naught and that the Lord could and must prevent it, and from grief and amazement and love wanted to shield his Lord from suffering and refused to see the cross in Christ's work.
The saying oppressed the disciples with sadness because they loved Him, harassed them with doubt, left them unable to comprehend His words, and made them question why He would go to Jerusalem to meet such treatment and leave them in greater darkness. Peter's rebuke turned their minds from the lesson of the cross Christ desired to impart. Behind Peter's blind love Satan was the author of the thought, putting doubts and unbelief in his mind and using the impulsive appeal to discourage Jesus and turn Him from His mission. Satan sought to fix Peter's gaze on earthly glory instead of the cross, to interpose himself between Peter and his Master so Peter's heart would not be touched by the vision of Christ's humiliation for him, and thus pressed the wilderness temptation upon Jesus again through His disciple. The rebuke drew the severest rebuke Christ ever uttered.
Jesus did not commend this love, because the rebuke gave no help or comfort for the trial before Him, was not in harmony with God's purpose of grace toward a lost world and with the lesson of self-sacrifice He came to teach by His own example, and made an impression directly opposed to what He wanted to fix on His followers. The verse teaches that those who follow Him must also be willing to endure reproach and humiliation for His sake and to win salvation, bearing the cross, giving up worldly hopes and pleasures, and following Him if they are to share His glory. The same work of Satan continues today in putting thoughts of unbelief in the mind and suggesting that truths involving a cross be left out of belief and experience. It wants God's commandments and great moral standard of righteousness blotted out, while welcoming talk of Christ's mercy to save the vilest sinners yet rejecting repentance and the putting away of sin and counting the law of God unwelcome to the carnal heart.