In Mark’s gospel this week, Jesus is talking to his disciples and predicts his rejection by the religious authorities, his death, and his rising. Peter doesn’t like it – Peter takes Jesus aside and scolds him, but Jesus is not having it. He comes right back at Peter, telling him that he is focused on “human things” rather than God’s priorities.
I have compassion for Peter here. He certainly didn’t mean to set Jesus off. Maybe he’s just trying to redirect Jesus as the conversation heads in an unexpected direction. Perhaps he’s thinking Jesus is weary and losing hope. They have kept a relentless pace, with healings and miraculous feedings, tricky encounters with pharisees attempting to entrap Jesus, and Jesus repeatedly trying to teach and clarify his mission for the disciples. Immediately before these verses, Peter has just declared that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God to save the people of Israel and transform the world – at this point, Peter surely expected something other than dire and dangerous predictions from Jesus.
After Peter’s declaration, perhaps Jesus thinks the disciples are finally ready to hear about the difficulties and challenges that lie ahead. But clearly, they are not. It is tough to realize that suffering, rejection, and death are coming. That is not what they are expecting, nor what they are prepared for. As followers of the messiah, won’t God intervene and make everything wonderful for them? Aren’t they in a privileged position? They don’t really understand what it means to follow Jesus yet.
Like the disciples here, we struggle to embrace the harder parts of following Jesus. We’d prefer to think that following Jesus will be joyful and effortless all the time – but it is not always easy to live out the love we receive from God. In following Jesus, we are embraced by God AND we are called to reach out to our neighbors in ways that resemble the compassion, generosity, forgiveness, and inclusion that we see Jesus live in the Gospels. That is hard and sometimes dangerous work. I don’t always want to live that way.
When do you have a hard time following Jesus? Where are you resistant to compassion or forgiveness? When do you struggle to be generous or inclusive? Where do you find yourself wanting to rebuke Jesus for calling you to love your neighbor or your enemy?
Fortunately, Peter’s encounter in this week’s gospel reminds us that God is not at all surprised that we struggle to truly follow Jesus. Folks have been struggling since the very beginning. We are invited to follow, not because can do it perfectly. We are invited to follow because God loves each one of us, and even imperfectly, we can be part of transforming the world.
Peace, my friends.