Matthew 16:13-28
Be Still: Father, we welcome you in this space, to fix our eyes on you, to hear your voice, and to start this day with you. Amen
Read: Matthew 16:13-28
From 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, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (v21)
Encounter: Earlier this year, my daughter moved up a swimming class. Moving up a class is always a big moment, but this move was particularly seismic. She’d moved from the teaching pool into the big pool. There I am, the nervous father watching her in this new pool, with kids far more experienced than her, watching her struggle to get her new goggles on, trying to keep up with the others. She had literally been thrown into the deep end, and I was watching on, and I couldn’t help her. A flurry of emotions came over me.
For those you love, you’ll do anything.
We don’t want to see those we love struggle, and certainly not suffer.
Jesus has just revealed to the disciples that he is going to suffer and die. Peter, who had just had this mountaintop moment of affirmation from Jesus, is now hit with crushing reality.
Peter wanted to intervene, ‘Never, Lord!’ It’s a what-can-I-do-moment to stop this cruel reality. Like so many of us, he tried to control the situation, to turn it around. But Jesus knew the direction of travel, which was to suffer and die on a cross.
You’ll do anything for those you love.
Jesus did everything for us, the ones he loves. Dying on a cross, enduring the mockery, the rejection, and the pain of the world – out of love for you and me. It’s a humbling reality demonstrating the incredible love of our amazing God.
Love acts - even when it costs.
Apply: Consider today the depths of God’s love for you, that he gave his Son, Jesus Christ to save you. These might be familiar words but ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you, in a new way, the power of this truth.
Devote: Lord God, give us a fresh revelation today of your love. As we remember just what you’ve done for us, may we turn our hearts to you in fresh praise and devotion.