Peter takes Jesus aside and, as we hear, begins to rebuke him saying: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you!”

How often have we done this with the Lord? Whether it was the pandemic, or politics, or some other difficulty or crisis in our life, big or small — Haven’t we at some point taken Jesus aside to set the record straight: “Lord, what are you doing? Don’t you understand? This can’t happen like this!”

As he responded to Peter, so our Lord responds to us:

“Get behind me, Satan! — which means “Enemy,” or “Adversary.” You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

The original Greek phrase can literally be translated: You are a little tripping stone in my way, Peter!

That’s hard for us to hear. Really hard. But what Jesus says is always said in love. 

Think of it this way: Jesus says: “You’re in my way! Get out of my way, you enemy!” Well, where is Jesus going?

To the Cross. Jesus is on the way to lay down his life out of love for Peter. For you and me. For the entire world. Why would Peter want to get in the way of THAT? Why would he ever try to dissuade God from saving him?