When I read Mark’s gospel recounting Jesus asking his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" and the subsequent words between Peter and Jesus, I can’t help but flinch when Jesus tells him,
“Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do” (Mark 8:33b).
Peter’s Misunderstanding of the Messiah
Peter went from understanding the most important truth that Jesus is the Christ, to not understanding the essential truth of Jesus’ teaching that the Son of Man must suffer greatly, be killed, and rise again on the third day. We don’t know the nature of Peter’s rebuke of Jesus. It may have been a denial or saying it was not possible. It may have been an outburst of fear and uncertainty. We know it must have been prompted by Jesus not being the type of Messiah that Peter was expecting. After all, the Jewish people thought the Messiah would be a royal king, a warrior, immune from suffering and basking in glory.
When Jesus tells Peter to “get behind me”, he’s telling him to get in line and learn more about what it really means to be a disciple. Jesus is demanding a new way of thinking. He makes it clear that suffering and taking up one’s cross is part of the life as a disciple. Jesus wants to transform our human understanding as well. Crosses are part of being alive and being faithful to the gospel.
The Reality of Suffering and Discipleship
Back to that “flinch” I experience when I read this gospel. I know I flinch because I recognize myself in Peter in several ways. The first is thinking only in human terms when faced with the reality of suffering, injustice, and evil in the world. Matthew’s account of this same encounter includes Jesus telling Peter, “You are an obstacle to me” (Matthew 16:23b). I, too, am an obstacle to God’s transforming power when I attempt in prayer to “set him straight” and I ask him to take away a difficult situation, person, illness, hardship, etc. I fail in this new way of thinking that emphasizes the doing of God’s will no matter what the consequences are. I fail to remember that healing and wholeness come from forging ahead with God, who is our help.
Beyond Present Suffering
Peter did not grasp the big picture of Jesus’ teaching at that point in time. Peter and the disciples only come to insight after Jesus’ death. My human thinking does not see past the suffering or injustice of the present time to see the resurrection that lays beyond. God does not work according to human expectations. But within every situation of our lives, within every cross we bear, He promises us a new life with him, an eternal life. That is the basis of Christian hope.
“In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere “to the end” and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God’s eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1821).
Embracing the Mind of Christ
Christian hope requires a new way of thinking. When we are tempted to think merely as human beings think, we can remember that, in faith, “we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16b). It is then that we really get behind Jesus as his followers.
Rather than flinching and resisting this new way of thinking, I must ask myself: Is there a painful situation in my life that I need to put on the mind of Christ to be a true follower of Jesus?
Debbie Garza is a parishioner of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Leon Springs, and is an experienced Pilgrimage Group Leader with Pilgrim Center of Hope. She has traveled with Pilgrim Center of Hope to the Holy Land, Italy, and Greece. She says, “On pilgrimage, I know the ears and eyes of my heart have been opened by God’s grace and I’ve experienced the Joy of the Gospel. I am committed to helping other pilgrims experience their personal journey of faith.” Debra is also a member of Pilgrim Center of Hope’s Speaker Team.
Answering Christ’s call, Pilgrim Center of Hope guides people to encounter Him so as to live in hope, as pilgrims in daily life. See what’s happening & let us journey with you! Visit PilgrimCenterOfHope.org.
