Blog Archive

3/12/08

WEDNESDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

Jesus talked of a Messiah
who must Suffer


Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Mark 8:31-33

He told us, but we didn’t want to hear what he had to say. He didn’t want to believe what he said would happen would happen. Surely no good could come of it. There must be another way –one that is more the way we want it to be. Peter must have thought so.

Peter denied Jesus, long before the cock crowed that fateful night. He did not want God’s will to send the Messiah to the cross. He did not trust that Jesus would know God’s will and follow it.In his denial, Peter tempted Jesus to turn away from God’s will. Peter must have been horrified at the rabbi’s passionate response.

How often, and in how many ways do we, like Peter, unwittingly tempt each other to turn from God’s will?
How often do we expose temptation and resist its allure?

Righteous God,
Grant us discernment to recognize temptations, even the smallest ones. Help us rebuke temptation. We yearn to walk more closely in your path. Guide our feet. Amen.

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