Mark 8:31-33

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

-Mark 8:31-33

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Imagine rebuking Jesus!  Imagine rebuking God!  That’s what Peter was doing here!  In yesterday’s devotional, Dr. Hall wrote about Peter recognized Jesus as the Messiah or the savior of the world.  Now Peter is rebuking the Messiah?  What is he doing?

Peter didn’t forget what he said about Jesus being the savior of the world.  Instead, Peter had his own human ideas about what the Savior of the world should look like and do.  Many Jews at that time believed that the Messiah would appear to bring about political change since the Jews were under Roman rule.  They wanted a Messiah with a physical army destroying their enemies and freeing them from Roman rule.  This was probably Peter’s plan and vision for Jesus.

But God’s plan to save humanity was at a totally other level.  He didn’t just want to save us from political oppression, God wanted to save us from the source of all oppression—sin.  His plan was to reconnect us with Himself by sending His Son Jesus to die on the Cross for our sins.  This was God’s plan.

Don’t be so hard on Peter valuing his plan over God’s plan.  We do it all the time.  “God, I want to date this person.”  Or, “God, I want to go to this college.”  Or, “God, I want my life to be this way.”  And it doesn’t go our way.  Our plan doesn’t happen and like Peter we rebuke God.

Maybe we’re not as bold as Peter to rebuke God to His face, but if we’re honest, we rebuke God with our hearts.  We’re too scared to be outright angry at God, so we harbor our tiny seeds of bitterness and resentment toward Him in our hearts.  Deep down, we’re thinking: “God you messed up.  Why didn’t you give me what I want?”

What do we do?  How do we prevent ourselves from rebuking Jesus with our hearts when things don’t go our way?

We need to practice daily surrender.  Surrendering to God is an important part of the Christian life.  Letting go requires humility and faith that can only occur when one’s relationship with God is strengthened.  

We start by praying and asking God to help us.  We continue by reading the Bible or devotionals like this one to help shape our minds and hearts to be more like Jesus’ mind and heart.  The more we spend time with Jesus, the more he helps us to get His plan.

Not in this passage, but later, Peter eventually gets it.  If you keep spending time with Jesus, you will, too.