The Place of Suffering (Matthew 16: 21-23)

I.        Introduction.

Would you like to be like Christ, if you know the , the answer to that would be, I sure, an affirmative yes. But the big question is how do you do that, how do you get to be like Christ. Well on one occasion in his ministry Jesus talked about what he was like and what he was about to do and he applied that to the disciples as if to say here’s what life is going to be like if you become my disciple. In other words, if you choose to follow me this is what your life is going to be like. That potentially answers a whole load of questions about what it will be like for us if we try and be like Christ in our everyday life. It also tells us what we have to do to arrive at such a place. So, with that in mind would you turn with me to Matthew chapter 16 Matthew chapter 16 and we’re going to begin reading adverse 21. (Twice through)

21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

(Matthew 16: 21-23)

This passage is in one sense rather straight-forward, it begins with Jesus talking about himself and what’s about to happen to him. After this he will turns his attention to the disciples and teach them, about how that might apply to their lives, but we will look at that tomorrow.  Like the previous passage the section we shall be looking at today and tomorrow although deeply profound is very often misunderstood and misapplied.

So I want us to walk very carefully through this passage you see exactly what Jesus is saying first about himself about anyone who chooses to follow him. Let’s begin with what it says about him in verse 21.

From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

(Matthew 16: 21)

II.       A New Departure.

Verse 21 opens with the little phrase, “from that time”. Now let’s pause for a second right there, for the little phrase, “from that time” appears only twice in the Gospel of Matthew. In the first place it appears in Matthew chapter 4 verse 17 and secondly it appears right here. This little phrase announces a new departure or a new phase in the ministry of Christ. In chapter 4 it announced that it was going to start his public ministry, and here it marks the beginning of a more private ministry face to face with his disciples.  From this time onwards it is going to get very specific about where he is going from here and what it is that is going to happen to him when he gets there. He says he’s going to go to Jerusalem, then he says he will suffer at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes.

In Christ day those three groups’ people were very significant as it is actually a description of the make-up of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the ruling body in Israel, and it was made-up of three groups of people who are named here. It was made-up of the elders which were the older aristocratic men in Israel. It was made-up of the chief priests, who was the head of the order of priest who functioned in the temple and it was made-up of the scribes they are the ones who copied the law and they were to a large degree made-up of the Pharisees. 

As we continue studying the Gospel of Matthew, we’re going to bump into these various groups individually many times and we’re going to see again and again the Sanhedrin meeting to determine what they consider Jesus is doing and how they are going to deal with him.

And at this point he pre announces that he’s going to go to Jerusalem and when he gets there the Sanhedrin is going to cause him much grief. He actually says he’s going to suffer many things when I get there.

III.       The Place of Suffering.

Now the word suffer is a critical word. In understanding what Jesus is telling his disciples we need to know that the word Jesus uses here has a very wide range on meanings. I’m going to suffer many things, he says, and indeed he does. He is going to be humiliated, he’s gonna be discouraged and of course he’s going to be crucified. But what he says at this point is that the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, i.e. The Sanhedrin are going to cause him to be killed. He does not mention the crucifixion yet but he does talk about being killed and he mentions that three days later he is going to be raised from the dead.

As you have heard me say as we’ve been going to the Gospel of Matthew together, Matthew is always talking about the fact that Jesus is the Messiah of the Old Testament, the son of God and the King of the Jews. The one who  was predicted and the Messiah who would die for his people. A a very simple passage that says that in unmistakable terms is Daniel Chapter 9.  Isaiah 53 describes it also, but in even more detail. So, the Old Testament is very clear that the Messiah would die. However, the Jews of Jesus’s day focused on other things that the Old Testament said about the Messiah  namely that the Messiah would come, and he would set up a Kingdom. So that at the time Jesus was born and when he began his ministry what was popularly believed in Israel is that the Messiah would come and that he would set up a Kingdom, and by and large the Jews had ignored those passages that said the Messiah would die. Nevertheless, Jesus said early in his ministry that he would die, he said it in veiled terms initially, first he talked about destroying this temple and in three days it would be raised again. That was early on as he began his ministry, but here he is beginning to become more explicit.

The disciples didn’t get it first time round, so now at this time Jesus starts for the first time to speak very plainly and he says in plain language, I am going to Jerusalem, and I am going to suffer and be executed. But when he said that, that’s not what Peter’s was thinking.

I want you to remember that just before this Jesus asked Peter, “who do you think that I am, and in the previous verses Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ that’s the word for Messiah the son of the living God”. Peter recognized that Jesus was the Messiah but he's thinking this Messiah is going to come and he’s going to set up a political Kingdom. Here now, Jesus is saying, OK, Peter. you got the point that I’m the Messiah, but now I’m gonna add some additional revelation. I’m about to go to Jerusalem and when I get there I am going to be persecuted and killed. That was foreign to anything Peter and the apostles or for that matter virtually anybody else thought at the time. Peter though, no that’s not what is going to happen, “Wait a minute, remember you’re the Messiah you’re gonna set up a kingdom”. So, notice what happens next.

“Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

(Matthew 16: 22)

Peter simply did not get it and he admonished the Lord, he rebuked Him for even thinking such a thought. Let’s see how Jesus responds to that. The plot thickens.

IV.       Jesus Rebukes Peter.

“But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

(Matthew 16 : 23)

The word rebuke used here doesn’t mean Jesus says what he says in a harsh tone, it just means he corrects him. However, he meant every word that he said. It was not meant to be a put down, he just firmly meant to correct Peters faulty thinking. He is pointing out that Peter’ idea that he is not to die is, is a though inspired by Satan. It’s not that Peter is from Satan, he’s using a very dramatic technique to say, Peter, what you just said is not of God, it’s a lie. As a matter of fact, he says that, look at verse 23, “You’re an offense to me” literally the Greek word translated means stumbling block to me.

You are not mindful of the things of God, you don’t understand what God has said in his word, rather you are mindful of the things of men.

There’s a lot of insight to be gained by studying this single verse. How does Satan get his ideas out into the world?. Answer, through people like you and me. Via men who put ideas in our mind. Ideas such as Christ isn’t going to die.

Jesus had just said I’m going to die and I’m going to be raised from the dead, did he not? And Peter upon hearing that says, no. No, that not what is going to happen, and Jesus then says get me behind me Satan, and in the most forceful of terms. This tells me that any idea that Jesus Christ did not die and come back from the dead is inspired from the pit of hell, and that’s what Jesus is saying here. If you think for one second Jesus Christ did not die or come back from the dead, then the question you need to ask yourself is where you got such an idea. You didn’t get it from the Bible, you didn’t get it from God. You got that idea from the ideas of from men, and they got it from Satan. So, Jesus rebukes Peter in the strongest possible terms saying you have not been enlightened by God, telling him he has been educated and used by Satan as a tool of the enemy, when you speak in that way.

What strikes me as so fascinating about this is that just a few moments earlier Peter said, “You are the Messiah the son of the living God”. In verse 16, he said that, and then in verse 17 he says this. Notice in verse 17, Jesus calls Peter blessed and now a few verses later he calls him Satan, isn’t that fascinating.

Now let me pause here for just a second. These verses are telling us what Jesus is saying is about to happen to him, and I think the keyword here is that it tells us he’s going to suffer, many things, and then die and then  be raised from the dead. However, I want to put the emphasis first on suffer. Suffer, he’s going to suffer, many things. He’s going to be killed, and he’s going to be raised from the dead.

Here’s the core message, Jesus is saying I’ve got to go to Jerusalem, I’m going to suffer there. I’m going to die to pay for your sins and if you trust in me, if you understand that I paid for your sins and then rose from the dead, and you simply trust in Him to get you to heaven, and you are given the gift of eternal life, and it’s a free gift. The Bible says very clearly in Romans 6:23, “The gift of God is eternal life”, so before we go any further you need to have established that you understand that Jesus died for your sins and he arose from the dead and you need to trust him as our saviour and recognise that’s what he came to do. In this passage Jesus puts the emphasis on I’m going to suffer many things and be killed and come back from the dead.

V.       Get Behind Me Satan.

Before we leave this passage, it is interesting to look at one very early interpretations of the phrase: "Get behind me, Satan!" Origen suggested that Jesus was saying to Peter: "Peter, your place is behind me, not in front of me. It is your place to follow me in the way I choose to go, not to try to lead me in the way you would like me to go."  If we interpret the phrase in that way, something of its sting is removed, for it does not banish Peter from Christ's presence; rather it recalls him to his proper place, as a follower walking in the footsteps of Jesus.  “Begone, Satan!" or "Get behind me, Satan," simply makes the point is that Jesus' commands Satan to: "Begone!" While his command to Peter is: to become my follower again." Satan is banished from the presence of Christ; at the same time, Peter is recalled to be Christ's follower again. 

The one thing that Satan could never become is a follower of Christ. His diabolical pride means he could never submit to that; that is why he is Satan. On the other hand, Peter, like us, might be mistaken and might fail and might sin, but for him and us there was always the chance to become a follower again.  The basic difference between Peter and Satan is precisely the fact that Satan would never get behind Jesus. So long as Peter or any of us today are prepared to try to follow him, even after we have fallen, there is still the sure and certain hope of glory here and now, and hereafter.

That’s the first half of the passage that deals with what Jesus says is going to happen to him. But at this point he turns to the disciples, and he speaks to them, but we shall look at that next time.