SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/22/2022 8:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Presumption of Peter”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
16:22
Message of the verse: “22 And Peter took
Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This
shall never happen to You.’”
What
Peter said to the Lord here was certainly wrong, but the reason that he said
this was because it was so utterly contrary to what he himself strongly
believed, so Peter took him aside and began to rebuke Him.
We
certainly can see the humanness of Jesus in this section as to what Peter spoke
to Him these words. Had Jesus been a
mystical and demanding Lord of the kind the Jews expected the Messiah to be,
Peter would never have dared address Him as he did here and on many other occasions
that we see in the gospels. Peter many
times had what is called “foot in mouth” problem. We can certainly tell that in spite of what
Peter said that he and Jesus were close friends as well as his Lord. Peter showed no fear in speaking this rebuke
to Jesus, demonstrating the reality of their intimate relationship as men.
I
suppose that there are many believers throughout the church age that have read
this section and have been quick to rebuke Peter for such incredible
presumption, but they themselves have done similar things to what Peter has
done. MacArthur writes “The believer who
complains about his sufferings and trials and asks, ‘Why me Lord?’ shares in
Peter’s presumption. It is easy to
accept God’s blessings, but not His testings.
It is easy to accept prosperity and health as part of God’s plan for us,
but not hardship and sickness. When joy
comes to us, that seems to be our proper lot as a child of God, but when sorrow
comes we are inclined to doubt our heavenly Father’s wisdom and love.
“Rebuke
translates the same word (epitimao)
Matthew used of Jesus warning the disciples not to tell no one He was the
Christ (v. 20). The word carried the
idea of authoritative judgment, normally used by an official or leader against
someone under his jurisdiction. The
present infinitive form suggests that Peter made the rebuke repeatedly.
“Perhaps
Peter’s presumption came out of the officiousness that sometimes comes with
age, or out of his being the acknowledged leader of the apostles. It was to him that Jesus had just declared
the Father had given special revelation (v. 17), and Peter may now have
considered himself a spokesman for God.
Or perhaps the response was simply typical of Peter’s self-confident
personality. Certainly his deep love for
and dependence on the Savior made the thought of His death a fearful prospect,
so that both love and fear entered into Peter’s response. In any case, his sinful pride led him to
place his understanding above Christ’s.”
“The
words God forbid it translates a Hebrew colloquialism that literally meant “gracious
to you’ or ‘merciful to you’ or ‘May God in His mercy spare you this.’ In the context of Peter’s rebuke, the phrase
is here translated in its negative connotation,
God forbid it. Consequently,
Peter’s addressing Jesus as Lord rings hollow, because Peter was placing his
own human will above the divine will of Christ.”
“To
reinforce his rebuke, Peter said, ‘This shall never happen to You,’ completely
contradicting what Jesus had just declared was necessary. Because he could not understand or accept the
idea of a humiliated, abused, and crucified Messiah, Peter rejected God’s plan
for redemption. The wisdom of the best
of men is typically antagonistic to the wisdom of God.”
I
am sorry for this long quotation but I did this because the great importance of
this verse, and I am thankful to better understand what went on here in a newer
light.
9/22/2022 9:12 AM
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