21 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 be raised up on the third day. 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Peter plays into the hand of Satan, but not beyond the notice of the Lord. At one level, we could just assume Jesus is using a combination of metaphor and hyperbole, likening Peter to Satan, as an extreme way to impress upon Peter and the disciples the gravity of his actions. A man who has just declared faith in Jesus as “The Christ, the Son of the living God,” should know better than to rebuke that same Jesus. The audacity of saying, “No,” to the Lord exceeds credibility in this case. What an immediate turn around!
At another level, the misunderstanding of the purposes of Jesus is stark. It is as though the only conclusion Peter could draw from Jesus prediction of His death, is that it would somehow signify God’s displeasure and rejection of Him. To the Jews of that day, misfortune implied the judgment of God. Therefore if it were true that Jesus were going to die, Peter’s words would have been very appropriate. Literally, the words translated here, “God forbid it,” could be rendered, “May there be mercy to you!” (see Heb 8:12 for a similar use of this word). But, Peter would have none of that, Jesus was not going to die.
The Lord gives the occasion for His own rebuke of Peter: a confusion of loyalty. Peter still had a prior loyalty to the human perspective. As such, he became a hindrance (“stumbling block”). Earlier (Matt 13:41-42) Jesus had indicated that “stumbling blocks” would be removed from the kingdom. Peter’s actions were no light matter!
However, the reference to Satan takes on deeper significance. From the beginning the arch-enemy of Christ has been resisting the plan of God; the evil plan of Herod, the killing of the babies in Bethlehem, the temptation of Jesus in the desert, etc. It should not surprise us that just when the disciples had come to recognize who Jesus really was (or in the words of John 1:12, had “received Him”) that the enemy would come to snatch away their faith, like a bird eating the seed sown by the side of the road (see Jesus parable in Matt 13:18). Jesus nipped this one in the bud, in no uncertain circumstances.
Lord, I believe in You. Thanks for Your rebukes, they keep me on track with Your plan and purposes. I don’t want to side with Your enemy.
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