"Get Behind Me, Satan!"

Shortly after Simon Peter made his confession to Jesus (Matthew 16:13-20), the gospel account next records the following exchange between Master and disciple:

From that time Jesus began to show to 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 the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men’” (Matthew 16:21-23).

At first reading, we might think that Jesus’ reply to Peter seems harsh. After all, Peter loved and revered Jesus — he had plainly confessed his faith in Jesus as the Christ. The very idea that someone would harm Jesus, much less kill Him, was unthinkable to Peter. He was willing to take up arms (John 18:10) and even sacrifice his own life (Matthew 26:35) to prevent any aggression against the Son of God. Most of us would be delighted to have someone as concerned for our well-being. Why then does Jesus upbraid Peter so sharply, calling him “an offense,” even referring to the apostle metaphorically as “Satan”? (Matthew 16:23).

To answer this question, let us carefully observe the latter part of Jesus’ rebuke:

See here.

Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets

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