Matthew 16:21-28 (NRSV)
Read Matthew 16:21-28 on biblegateway.com
Verse 21From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Verse 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you." Verse 23But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
Verse 24Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Verse 25For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. Verse 26For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? Verse 27"For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Verse 28Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."
Devotion
Some thought that Friday would never come. And for others, the boxes are not yet discarded because there is just too much happening and a first week of new beginnings is but a blink of an eye.
Jesus continues his lesson on counter-cultural discipleship. Peter and friends now may be taking notes, or at least reaching for the highlighter, because this lecture is new territory. Saving life by losing it, radical in its first edition, risky even for us today. To follow Jesus is a believing and doing journey. We can't wait for understanding when hungry neighbors, homeless siblings and grieving strangers are all around. If it is God's world, then is it not our world, too? And as we serve, we believe, and as we care, we understand, and as we listen to another's story, we know how to better our own. It is an important lesson from the Son of Man coming to establish His kingdom.
Prayer
God of yesterday, today and tomorrow, ready us for our vocation in your world. Open us to a ministry of service even before we are credentialed and certified, that all might know your mercy and grace. Amen.