Today's Scripture
TODAY’S READING SCHEDULE: 2 Kings 22 -23; Matthew 16
back to the heart of worship – Matthew 16:13-28
13 Now when Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Human One[a] is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 He said, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Then Jesus replied, “Happy are you, Simon son of Jonah, because no human has shown this to you. Rather my Father who is in heaven has shown you. 18 I tell you that you are Peter.[b] And I’ll build my church on this rock. The gates of the underworld won’t be able to stand against it. 19 I’ll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Anything you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. Anything you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered the disciples not to tell anybody that he was the Christ.
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and legal experts, and that he had to be killed and raised on the third day. 22 Then Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him: “God forbid, Lord! This won’t happen to you.” 23 But he turned to Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stone that could make me stumble, for you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. 25 All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will find them. 26 Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? 27 For the Human One[c] is about to come with the majesty of his Father with his angels. And then he will repay each one for what that person has done. 28 I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see the Human One[d] coming in his kingdom.”
What does this passage mean to me/us?
Yesterday, I was in a small group talking about how we make a decision to surrender. During the discussion, one person mentioned how Peter’s journey of surrender is full of twist and turns. We see, in today’s scripture, how Peter declares Jesus as Lord and how Jesus compliments Peter by promising the ‘keys of the kingdom of heaven. And then the paragraph following, Jesus shares how to truly follow God’s will and Peter expresses how that shouldn’t happen. We know how Peter was rebuked at that very same moment.
We like Peter will have our ups and downs as we walk in this journey following Jesus. We should also remember how Peter’s life, in the end, was able to reflect and imitate the Lord he followed.
Are we willing to follow?
Prayer
Lord, be with us today, to follow you ways. In the name of Jesus, we pray, AMEN.
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