Walk Of Life – Day 04, April 2022 – Thoughts From The Words Of Jesus Christ
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. (Matthew 16:21)
The phrase mentioned in this verse “From that time Jesus began” is already mentioned in the gospel of Matthew chapter 4 verse 17 as “From that time Jesus began to preach” referring to message “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus started preaching about the kingdom of God right before when there was not a possible way of salvation. Kingdom of God was made possible to human beings only through the death of Lord Jesus Christ.
Just before this passage Jesus asked His disciples who people were saying He was. When Jesus pushed further and asks who the disciples believed He was, Peter answered “You are the Christ, the Son of God” (Matthew 16:16)
It was right after that confession that Jesus let the disciples in on the rest of the plan and what it really meant for Him to be the Christ. This foretelling of His own death and resurrection served to help them see Him as Christ rightly, because to confess Him as Christ and deny Him the cross would be to have misguided expectations.
Peter, of course, rebuked Jesus saying “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you” (Matthew 16:22). Of course Peter and the disciples would be devastated by the news that Jesus delivered. Nevertheless, Jesus turned their eyes toward the cross so that they could begin to understand what it truly meant for Him to be who they said they believed He was.
There is good news beyond the death of Jesus, although it seemingly went unnoticed by Peter, and it is that Jesus would be raised from the dead. A cross that killed Jesus and was the end of the story would have rendered Jesus to not be the Christ at all. Whereas, death defeated reveals Him to be the true and better King; the suffering Servant prophesied by Isaiah.
Matthew intentionally tells the rest of the story under the shadow of the cross of Christ, which of course is cast by the light of His glorious resurrection. We not only read the recorded exchange between Jesus and His disciples, but as we read the story our eyes too are turned towards the cross and resurrection. Matthew engages us in the story so that we can make the confession along with Peter, that Jesus is the Christ, as our attention turns toward the acts of Jesus that have made that a reality for us.
As we seek Christ together we will surely hear His call for us to follow Him, to submit everything, to take up our cross and come and die. May we prepare ourselves on purpose then to answer the call for His glory and our joy as we find that there is plentiful grace and redemption for us all as we lean into the brokenness and mess that lies before us. Just like how His death and the way it’s gonna be is shown to the disciples and unto us it is shown how He is going to come back and how that eternal kingdom is. Let us be prepared.
