Rev. Nick Cheek
Luke: 5: 1-11 and Matthew 16: 13-26
“Get behind me, Satan.” Can you imagine hearing those words coming from Jesus? It doesn’t really fit…. It is one of those odd passages that catches us off guard. And this is certainly not what a student would ever want to hear from their teacher… or a church member from their pastor. Imagine for a moment if we were sitting in a leadership meeting, or grabbing a cup of coffee, and I turned to one of you, a member, an elder, or a staff member, and in front of everyone, said, “Get behind me, Satan.” It would be shocking to say the least. And to the person I said it to, it would feel like a gut punch. So why does Jesus say it? Why does he unleash arguably one of the most blistering comebacks in the entire New Testament on the one who was supposed to be his right-hand man?
We know from the Gospels that Jesus and Peter were friends. They fished together, broke bread together, traveled together, shared stories… they journeyed through nearly three years of ministry side by side. They loved each other. Right before our story this morning, Peter calls Jesus the Messiah…. The son of the living God… and Jesus calls Peter the Rock… the one upon whom he would build his church. Peter was just feeling like he was on top of the world… Jesus’ star pupil… and then this happens….
One would assume that after spending this kind of time together, Peter and Jesus would have come to embrace a shared vision for ministry… a vision on how to move forward. But that isn’t the case in our story. This morning we are invited into their conflict with one another. After a nice meal together, Jesus shares with the disciples that soon… he will be unjustly arrested, falsely accused, and eventually die – and Peter isn’t having any of it. “Be it not so, Jesus… No , you can’t die… this is not the plan. The plan was supposed to be… that you were going to start a new kingdom… you were going to overthrow the oppressive regime… You were going to free us… from bondage to poverty, to injustice… to inequality. You are supposed to reign in power and might, Jesus – you’re supposed to end up sitting on a throne, not hanging on a cross. A Messiah wins… a Messiah reigns… A Messiah most certainly does not get handed over to Rome and crucified… this is not the plan… Jesus… It is easy to identify with Peter in this story. If you think about it… we are all Peters. We all want to be in control… We all want things to go…. A certain way…for us… and for the ones we love. And…. if they aren’t going our way… we usually get involved.
Just this past week, I had a Peter moment. Our youngest, Ada, is a freshman in high school, and she made the JV volleyball team. She plays outside hitter, which is positioned up on the front left side of the net. During one of their scrimmages, she wasn’t playing quite as much as her father thought she should be playing. Now, from her father’s completely objective perspective, she is obviously the best player on the court… and in my eyes, she can do no wrong. She is perfect in every way. So, naturally, I started getting a little flustered. And then I started having a conversation with myself. You know, this coach is new. She doesn’t really know the team that well yet. She probably doesn’t know what Ada can do. Maybe I need to go down there and help her understand what she’s missing. Somehow, in my mind, I had convinced myself that this coach might benefit from my considerable expertise in high school volleyball. [play it out] So…I mentioned my plan to my wife, and just as I started to stand up, she grabbed my arm and gave me that look… the look that wives give all their husbands when they’re about to do something crazy… And thankfully, I snapped out of it. I sat back down. I stayed in my place.
Don’t we all do this at times? Don’t we all want our children’s lives to unfold perfectly? We want our careers, marriages, families, finances, churches, and even our own bodies to cooperate with the plans we have made for them. And when life begins moving in another direction, our instinct is often to tighten our grip. We work harder, worry in excess, manage more carefully, and try to force things back toward the plans that we see… or the future we imagine. And… like Peter… we say no! We push back… and we try to steer what’s happening toward what we understand… what we know… what we desire.
Friends, there is a word here for us—for Trinity. We are in a season of change. New staff and leadership are bringing fresh energy and ideas. We are welcoming new faces. Our Weekday School is thriving, our partnership with Philips Academy is deepening, the Way Forward is asking us to imagine how this campus might serve Christ’s mission for generations to come, and our Mission Study is helping us ask who we have been, who we are, and who God may be calling us to become.
And in a season like this, it is easy to become like Peter. It is human to develop our own picture of what the future should look like, and then grasp on to it tightly. We hold on to what is familiar. We hold on to our own ideas about what should change and what should stay the same, what matters most, and how quickly, or slowly, we should move. And that is understandable. We love this church. We love this community. We bring our own hopes and passions to the table. [short pause and clearly] But the challenge of discipleship is learning when to loosen our grip long enough to ask: Jesus, where are you actually leading us? And… though that is not easy… it is the life of ministry. Our job is to discern where God is moving, what God is up to, and trust that God’s direction may not always be the direction we expected.
Peter… loves Jesus. But the cross is not the direction he wants their ministry to go. Without realizing it, what Peter has actually done is moved from following Jesus to trying to redirect him…. He has gotten out in front of Jesus… he thinks he knows better. And…. now… instead of being the Rock on which Jesus will build his church… suddenly Peter becomes the stumbling block…. Setting his mind on things below instead of the things above… worldly things… instead of heavenly things…. And that is why Jesus says, “Get behind me.”
Church, I have thought about this phrase all week: “Get behind me.” And I began to wonder if there is a way to hear those words positively instead of negatively. Get behind me….
Think about where you have heard that phrase before? Think about the movies you have watched, the books you have read, or even moments from history where they’ve been spoken. Often, … when there is chaos in the room, when danger is at hand, it is usually the hero who steps forward and says to everyone else, “Get behind me.”
First responders do this when they are leading people to safety. Captains in the military walk in front of their platoon and say… “Follow me… stay close.”. Parents and mama bears instinctively put their bodies between their children and whatever threatens them. An experienced mountain guide leads the way across dangerous terrain, finding the footholds and showing others where it is safe to step. Teachers, mentors, and Leaders do the same, but in less dramatic ways.
New Testament scholar Audrey West points out that Matthew repeatedly uses this language of getting behind Jesus to describe discipleship itself. Our first reading this morning is one of those stories. Eric read for us the first encounter Peter had with Jesus… beside the Sea of Galilee. Before Peter knew where this journey would lead, before he understood who Jesus really was, before he had witnessed a miracle or heard a sermon, Jesus asked one thing of him: “Follow me.” Peter dropped his nets and followed. Now, years later, Jesus is calling him back to the same posture…
Maybe this can help us hear Jesus’ words to Peter differently: “Get behind me.” Jesus is not simply putting Peter in his place. He is reminding Peter where his place as a disciple actually is. Jesus is trying to reorient Peter… Perhaps Jesus is saying “Peter, you are trying to get out in front of me. You are trying to tell me where this road should go. You are grasping for control over what happens next. But that is not your calling. I know this is scary… I know it might not make sense… and it isn’t what you thought would be… but I need you to trust me… Trust me enough to let me lead the way. Stay with me. Have faith in where I am taking you. Let me stand in front of you as we walk through this… I got you… I know the way.
Friends, Our story this morning is a lesson on discipleship and faith. Faith is not certainty that every road will be easy or every decision will work exactly as we hoped. Faith is trusting that God is already present now and in a future we cannot yet see. It is the willingness to say, “I do not know exactly where this road is going, but I know whom I am following. And because of that… I can let go a little and I can walk forward.”
It true… we are all Peters… and his story with Jesus is beautiful. Peter does not get it right all at the time… Most of the time he misses the mark. He speaks when he should listen. He sinks into the water when he is supposed to have faith. He falls asleep in the garden of Gethsemane… He even pulls out a sword to try and stop the guards from taking Jesus to the Cross… And eventually he even denies he knew Jesus three times. [short pause] Peter spends a remarkable amount of the Gospel misunderstanding what it means to follow. Yet… Jesus keeps calling him back. Jesus keeps offering grace and mercy…. Jesus never gives up on him.
“Get behind me” is not the end of Peter’s story…. And it is not the end of ours. When we get out ahead of Jesus…. When we become afraid. When we get attached to our own plans or mistake our will for God’s will, Christ continually approaches us with grace and mercy… and calls us back… again and again. Follow me… I will lead the way.
In the name of the Father the Son and the holy spirit. Amen