Lent Day #15

Mark 8:27-33 (ESV)
27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28 And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." 29 And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

THOUGHTS:
Who do we say that Jesus is? What role does our answer play in our lives?

Peter told Jesus that he believes he is the Christ -- the Messiah who will redeem and heal Israel. Jesus tells him to keep his view a secret, and then starts describing how he is going to have to suffer and die. Would you have challenged this notion like Peter did? I probably would have. I mean, Peter basically says "Jesus, you're the one! ALL of our hopes rest in you." Jesus responds with "Shh, I'm going to be tortured and killed soon..." Peter's whole brain probably blinked in confusion.

If you've seen movie "The Matrix", imagine if when Neo hears people tell him he's the one, he says "you know, I'm really thinking I'll just let them kill me." Those who believed he was the one would probably be telling him "NO -- you can't do THAT!"

Is that how Peter felt? I can't imagine I wouldn't have tried to talk Jesus out of it too. We so often get our minds focused on the way we think the world works, or the way we think that God should work. It's so easy to forget that God's ways are not our ways. God's ways are sometimes the farthest things from our comprehension at a given moment.

How do we remain open and ready to hear God's ways? How do we figure out when God is leading us in comparison to when our own ideas are the ones tugging us along? How do we set our mind on the things of God?

PRAYER:
Dear God, this Lent, we acknowledge that we tend to follow our own ideas down tangental rabbit-holes. We admit that sometimes we think we've figured out the point, and that our own certainty can sometimes lead us to miss out on Your still small voice whispering in our ears. Help us to work as a community to follow you. Help us to rely on each other, and to support each other. Help us to do Your will today. In Jesus name we pray, AMEN.