Matthew 16

In Matthew 16 Jesus encountered the Pharisees again. This time, instead of ridiculing Him for performing miracles, they were asking Him to perform them. Jesus refused to show them a sign, except for the sign of Jonah - which is to be swallowed up for 3 days and return again.

Then Jesus told His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Remember He told them before that the kingdom of heaven was like leaven that leavens the whole loaf - it's the complete transformation that we experience as believers. Now He is warning them against false teaching, which can do the same thing, and His warning completely went over their heads. I can sense Jesus's frustration with them at this point. He was patient, but they were testing His patience.

Jesus asked who people said that He is and their reply was that Jesus was a person from history - even recent history. This hints at the people's mindset. They were so stuck in their historical traditions that they even thought that people in their present time were reincarnations of people from thier history. The thought that God would do something new among them seems to have been the last thing they would expect. So, when Peter answered correctly Jesus told Him that this was not revealed to Him by human knowledge - but by God. And how did God reveal it to Peter - through the gift of faith.

He called Peter "rock" because he demonstrated faith, and I think that Jesus was actually talking about faith when He said "and on this rock I will build my church." The church is not built on Peter. Why would it be; Peter is just a man. It is built on what Peter demonstrated - faith the Jesus is the Son of God.

When we are faithful to God we receive the keys of the kingdom of God. What are those? The power to pray. And when we pray according to God's will we are working to bring God's kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven."

Then Jesus told the disciples something they did not want to hear, that He was going to die. And immediately after having changed Simon's name to Peter for demonstrating faith, Jesus rebuked Peter and called him Satan - saying that he was speaking with human understanding; the very thing Jesus said Peter wasn't doing in the previous section.

Then Jesus told the disciples something they clearly didn't understand - that they must follow Him by taking up their cross and giving up their life for His sake. He told them that there is no profit in gaining the whole world - and you can tell they didn't understand because later they are all jockying for position around Jesus's throne.

Taking up our cross and giving up our lives for Jesus is the hardest thing to do in our culture - especially consistently. The world always has advice that sounds good but leads us away from living sacrificially. There's always an excuse or an angle on how to work some selfish satisfaction into our walk with God.