Matthew 16:21-28
Jesus Predicts His Death
21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
23Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."
2 Peter 2:19
Commendable Unjust Suffering
19 For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.
John 15:13
No Greater Love
13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
Peter tried to defend his Teacher and gets scolded for doing it...He does not want to see or have Jesus suffer and killed at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law...Jesus rebukes Peter and even calls him Satan...Peter surely must have felt bad about being scolded like this, especially coming from the One he respected the most...Peter did not want Jesus to suffer and through his words, he was trying to help...Peter would no doubt not forget this lesson...Peter had looked at suffering and death in an undesirable, bad, and negative way...
Jesus tells Peter that he does not have in mind the things of God, but what Peter thinks mostly about are the things of men...I know this is true, first because Jesus says it, and that makes it true, plus Peter is a man, and his thoughts follow the average human type thoughts -after all he is a man...But Jesus is harsh to Peter...Calling him Satan would not be a good thing...The disciples were listening and would learn from this teaching and this reprimanding of Peter...Jesus focus and thoughts were on God, because He is divine...He wants us (and particularly Peter) to turn our attention and focus on Him also...By getting on Peter and calling Him Satan they would learn (from this)...They would learn to keep their minds open and think more in terms of God and God's will and trusting in God...The more they could do this, the more they would be like their Teacher...
What God had in mind was for His Son was to suffer...He was to suffer for us...That was the intention of God and God's mind...He had to suffer...He had to pay for our sin debt...Jesus was without sin, so He would be the Perfect Sacrifice for our debt...His suffering and eventual death on the cross are what my sins caused...Jesus did no wrong, He was sinless...Sin caused His death...
When we look at the cross, it maybe how we should look at suffering and death in this world...The cross and Jesus' suffering and death had to happen...It was God's will...So much good has came out of the cross, because now God forgives us, because His Son died for our sin debt...Suffering on the cross was necessary...Jesus had to suffer if we were and are to be forgiven by our Father in heaven...Some suffering is not only necessary but is required by God...Even Jesus death was necessary...Peter learns in the end that some sufferings in life are necessary and from God...He would later write, in his second epistle, that it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God...Peter has learned from his being chastised that he needs to think beyond what man thinks and think more in terms of God and Godly things...
It is man's ways to hope and not want our family and friends to suffer -or die...But maybe, just maybe there has to be some suffering in life to produce meaning...We may even need death to place more value on the way and ways we should live...The cross had to happen just the way it did...Jesus had to die at the hands of the elders and chief priests on the cross...He suffered...He died...He had to suffer and die for us to be forgiven of our sins...He had to suffer and die for us to be closer to God...All sufferings and Jesus death were not bad things for man...From one of the worst sufferings and deaths in human history, God has saved mankind...
After thinking about the cross, should we have a different attitude towards different kinds of suffering and even death?...I think St. Peter did...