“When I Don’t Understand”

“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.” (Mt. 16:21-27)  

Yikes, Peter went from “hero to goat” in about 30 seconds. He was trying to be helpful, but fell flat on his face. Jesus explains why Peter missed the boat with the following line….. “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

This phrase from Matthews gospel explains a lot about some of the “seemingly confusing” statements of the Lord. These statements made sense from a “Godly perspective”, but not from a “human perspective”; God’s will and our human will often don’t line up. When Peter rebuked Jesus in this gospel you could see Peter’s love for the Lord motivating this response… he loved Jesus and he didn’t want anything bad to happen to him… from a human point of view it was the response of a friend, trying to help. Yet there was a higher and more important perspective at hand…. the perspective of God. So Jesus fiercely corrected Peter.

When we look back on a situation from eternity, God’s perspective will always makes sense. The cross makes sense as we ultimately see it played out. In the days following Jesus’ death and resurrection, Peter would come to know that it was good that Jesus suffered and died and rose from the dead. The cross doesn’t make sense from a human way of thinking, yet ultimately it will prove to be absolutely right to everyone. God’s will always makes sense.

So what are we to do when we hear the words of the Lord and they just don’t seem to make sense to us…. “gee, what is the Lord saying here, what does he mean….. I’m confused.”  Well St. Augustine tells us that “understanding is the reward of faith….  therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.” But even there, we need faith in order to believe and ultimately understand. In all of this we need the Holy Spirit to speak into our heart. The Holy Spirit is the interpreter of the thoughts of God. The Holy Spirit helps us to have faith, to believe. 

So, as we read through the scripture concerning the many words of Jesus, we can find ourselves bewildered at times……” eat my body and drink my blood,  you must be born again, I saw Satan fall from the sky, I’m going to be killed and rise again, etc., etc., etc.”  We need to stop and pray as we hear these pronouncements of Jesus. These aren’t from the mind of man, but from the mind of God. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us trust Jesus and to believe him….. understanding will come later, along with the wonderful fruit of belief in the words of God. It’s not easy, but it’s the way to eternal life. 

“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 …… 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.” (Mt. 16:21-27) 

May we come to think as God does, and not as humans do….and all will be good with our souls.