There are some things we don’t understand in the moment but later they become clear. Like Peter…
Jesus told him that he was blessed because of an amazing revelation he had (Jesus Christ being the son of God) and how on this revelation He would found and build His victorious church. Peter had seen, had heard and accepted.
Jesus then told him about the cross. How it would bring suffering, death and resurrection. Peter rejected this part. He didn’t understand that he was rejecting the key to God’s plan – the cross.
Without accepting the cross, what Peter had seen and heard would never culminate in God’s powerful plan, but in Peter’s own version of this plan. Jesus rebuked him for that.
Matthew 16:24-25 (NKJV)
Take Up Your Cross and Follow HIM
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
- Mark Saunders