Matthew 16:21-24 Handling Bad News

Sometimes the news we get from God is not what we would consider ‘good’. Sometimes the diagnosis is not in our favor. Sometimes the spouse you counted on betrayed your love for them. And you ask yourself, why me? But take a look here, Jesus is clearly telling them of His impending death at the hand of the Jewish leaders.

Amazingly, the disciples completely ignored the last line Jesus gave them about being raised on the third day because they were stuck on the “before” not the “after”. Peter is so upset at this revelation that he rebukes Jesus.

Let's cut Pete a little slack here, his intentions were good. He wanted to affirm Jesus is the Christ, wanted to defend him to the death and Jesus had to turn to him and call him the devil. Because this particular bad event coming was necessary. It was the foundational reason Jesus came.

And Peter in all his wisdom decided to tell Jesus how things are going to be and this pebble, called Peter, got renamed ‘Satan’ by the One who changed his name the first time. And though we don't see it happen, the words imply a complete about-face move on Jesus's part as Peter is humbled quietly.

Sometimes God's people don't get rescued. Sometimes they die in senseless fashion. We don't always know why. And sometimes our personal pain will cause us to rebuke our Lord.

Surely, you won't take my health, Lord. But it happens. Surely you won't take my child, Lord. But it happens. And we try to take Him aside in prayer to argue our case, to rebuke Him. And we could cry out, “what possible long term benefit can be gained through this illness, or this death?”

And that's when our attention needs to be fully focused on what He endured. And then we understand that God lost His son too. He suffered pain, torture and death in order to save us. And in this struggle we call life, in a battle with pure evil some battles will be lost in this war.

An innocent loved one is brutalized and killed, a child gets ill to the point of death, everything you have could be lost at any time and sometimes through no real fault of your own, it seems the evil wins. Truthfully, many times evil will win, but the bottom line is, at the last skirmish we win.

All the questions of why this person died, or that child got sick will be answered. And then we will understand the why's we aren't granted to know now. Miraculous answers to prayer happen. Miraculous deliverances occur, but it might just be your answer for what you desperately wish for is a “no”. Are you willing to say, yes Lord and continue serving? Or will you do a Peter and begin attempting to explain to God how things should go?



[21] From that time Jesus began to point out to His disciples that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and to suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised up on the third day. [22] And yet Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You!” [23] But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s purposes, but men’s.” [24] Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. [25] For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. [26] For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? [27] For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every person according to his deeds. [28] “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”