Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Matthew 16:21-22

From that time on [after Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ], Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 

Peter did not accept Jesus’ new definition of “Messiah,” and he pulled Jesus aside privately to tell him so. At that moment, the one thing Peter was sure about was that Jesus was 100% wrong. I think Peter had realized that Jesus was not going to be the “military Messiah” that people were looking for, and maybe he was okay with that. But a “dying Messiah” was not a good plan. 

None of us are keen on dying. We don’t like losing loved ones to death. We don’t like the idea of having to die ourselves. We don’t even like dying to old ways of doing things. It frightens us and causes us anxiety and stress. 

But we forget that life has been a series of deaths that have moved us forward into more abundant life. Going to school is a death to all the unstructured playtime we had, but what we learned opened us up to new opportunities. Saying “no” to a behavior or substance that we’ve used to compensate for something not right in our lives opens us to learning new ways to live that don’t bind us, but free us. We don’t like the thought of dying, but sometimes it’s what we need the most. 

– Pr. Paul

Lord Jesus, you know that death frightens us. And yet you willingly accepted the path that led to your death. Teach us to trust you the way you trusted the Father, even in the face of death. Help me today to face down my fear and trust you. Amen.