March 11, 2026
(Josiah Hall)
Matthew 16:21–28 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 on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
24Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
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Recall yesterday’s passage. Peter has just confessed that Jesus is the Christ, God’s anointed one. Yesterday’s passage ended with Jesus forbidding his disciples to tell others that he was the Christ (16:20), and today’s passage clarifies the reason for this prohibition. While there were a variety of messianic expectations at the time, a common hope was for a person through whom God would deliver his people and through whom God would purify his people and restore them to relationship with himself. Jesus fulfills both of these expectations, but in a very unexpected way. The prohibition, therefore, functions to prevent misunderstandings of Jesus’ messianic vocation from spreading.
Jesus begins today’s passage by clarifying that his role as Messiah requires his suffering, death, and resurrection. We can be so used to the Christian message of the cross that we forget how counter-cultural and almost nonsensical its message is. Peter’s objection here should strike us as completely natural and warranted. If Jesus is God’s anointed one, how could he be rejected by God’s people, suffer, and die? Surely death indicates defeat and not victory.
It is the very fact that Peter’s objection is natural that Jesus rebukes, telling him that he is thinking in a human way and not according to God’s way of thinking (16:23). In the human world, victories follow a common script—power and might win—which is why underdog stories are so compelling and rare. Yet God’s way of operating is not an underdog story; rather it is the story of the all-powerful God inverting the normal human expectations for how power works and how victory can be achieved. Jesus willingly accepted suffering, shame, and death and triumphed through an apparent defeat.
After reminding Peter that his proper role is to follow behind Jesus and not to impede the road to the cross (16:23), Jesus then turns to his disciples and instructs them, and us, of two key aspects of what discipleship requires.
First, disciples must follow in the footsteps of their master. If Jesus endured shame and suffering, should we not expect to? The image of bearing one’s cross would have struck Matthew’s audience with much more force than it often does us. The cross was a symbol of Roman power and victory, for the Romans never crucified their own citizens. Indeed, Romans never talked about crucifixions in polite society, for it was not only the most painful but also the most shameful and degrading way in which someone could be executed. To carry a cross was to acknowledge one’s own defeat and lack of power.
And yet, second, Jesus also reminds us that the cross is not the end of the story. Rather, surrendering our lives, as Jesus did his, is the way to obtain true joy and life. The challenge of the discipleship to which Jesus calls us is that it requires a deep confidence in the reality of his resurrection. Do we really believe in God’s way of doing things, that suffering, surrender, and death is the path through which he accomplished deliverance? The reality of Easter is what enables us to act as Jesus calls us to, to give up our lives in the confidence that in doing so we will find them.
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An audio version of each devotion will be posted on our church podcast “Life Together at CRPC,” which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.