MATTHEW 16:21-27

Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.

Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?

For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”

WHAT CAN YOU GIVE IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR LIFE?

The steep cost of following Jesus is the question for today. Jesus asks this question because his disciples don’t want to understand the price he is going to pay for our redemption.

To redeem meant to pay the price to set a slave free. We are slaves to sin and death. Jesus shows the disciples that he must suffer, be killed, and then rise again.

Just a short time before Peter had proclaimed Jesus to be “The Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus had told him that he was a rock (the meaning of the name Peter). People could count on Peter because of his faith.

But now Peter can’t believe the cost that Jesus has to pay to fulfill his destiny as the Christ, the Messiah. Peter had expected that God would simply use his power to make everything right. And God does make everything right– but not the way Peter would like.

However, it isn’t just that Jesus faces the cross, Jesus says that whoever wants to follow him must also accept his cross. So, we are all faced with a choice: doing things our own way, trying to “gain the whole world”, or being willing to give up our lives for Jesus’s sake.

But choosing to follow Jesus comes with its own reward. He is the only way to heaven. And he promises all who follow him that when he returns in glory he will repay each one of us. Then, the gates of eternal life will open for us.