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There is an important difference between following somebody and telling them where to go.
That thought came to mind as I was reading one of the most dramatic exchanges between Jesus and Peter in Matthew’s Gospel, a passage that some churches will hear this Sunday.
It happens remarkably quickly.
Only a few verses earlier, Peter has given one of the greatest declarations of faith in the New Testament. Jesus asks his disciples who they believe he is, and Peter responds:
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus praises him. He tells Peter that this insight has not simply come from human reasoning and speaks of him as the rock upon which he will build his church. It is difficult to imagine the conversation going much better for Peter.
Then, almost immediately, everything changes.
Jesus begins explaining what will happen next. He will go to Jerusalem. He will suffer. He will be killed. Then, on the third day, he will be raised.
Peter does not like this at all. Matthew tells us that he takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him.
“God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.”
And Jesus responds with words that must have landed like a thunderclap.
“Get behind me, Satan!”
It is one of the strongest rebukes Jesus gives to anybody in the Gospels. Yet there is something within those words that I had never paid enough attention to.
Jesus does not simply say, “Go away.”
He says:
“Get behind me.”
