It had to hurt, hearing Jesus say to him, "Get behind Me, Satan" (Matt. 16:23). Peter didn't mean to get it wrong. He was doing the noble thing, really. After all, if you had a friend who said he was going some place to die, wouldn’t you step up and tell that friend, "Not on my watch. I love too much to let you die. I'll do all I can do to keep you alive"?

Yet, Peter had it wrong and if he had had his way, there would be no cross, no redemption, no new life in Christ. It all would have been a tragic failure. So, he hears Jesus saying the jolting words, "Get behind Me, Satan."

Is it possible that our motives might be right but that our actions based upon "good" motives be wrong? Is it possible to love the Christ but misunderstand what it means to love Him? Can we follow a Savior who calls us into that mysterious world called "making hard choices?" Can our love for Him be so deeply a part of who we are that should he call us to what we perceive to be the unthinkable, we still follow Him determinedly?

The way of Jesus led Him to a cross. It had to be; at least it had to be if He was going to obey His Father. Today, the way of Jesus leads us to a cross. Jesus said to Peter and his band of friends, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me" (Matt. 16:24). It gets even more descriptive. Jesus says, "Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it…what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (vs. 25).

Sounds like Peter and the disciples have some thinking and praying to do; maybe even some soul searching. Dare we join them? Can we bring our lives into the Christ so fully that everything else pales in comparison to following Him into the destiny He has for us?

Jesus had just affirmed to His disciples that He was “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16-17). Then He told them not to tell anyone about it. That’s quite a secret to keep. The most astonishing news the world would ever hear and they were to keep it to themselves for a while.

The Good News was not yet ready to be articulated verbally. First, it had to be lived out. In following Jesus the disciples would learn what it means for Jesus to be the Christ. It needed to become internal before it could have meaning in the external. So, Jesus stayed close to His men, and kept drawing them to Himself, making them into what C. S. Lewis called, “little Christs.”[1]

Preparation is a crucial part of any event. The Christ-event, particularly needs people whose hearts and minds and spirits have been prepared by staying close and living in Jesus.

Dare we say that the Gospel is more caught than taught, not that the two are incompatible. We are taught by catching something, and that something is the very life of Jesus. We see Him, draw near to Him, become captivated by Him, fall in love with Him, and then stake our lives on His claim to be who He is.

If we believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, let that reality consume us. Let it envelop us and shape us and form us into “little Christs.” May we live the meaning of it and then put into words what we have already been modeling to those in our sphere of influence.

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[1] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, HarperSanFrancisco:HarperCollins Publishers), 177, 225.

She was a woman, a Gentile, a descendant of the ancient Canaanites (a people who were enemies of Israel in the past, and whose paganism had often led Israel into idolatry), and she was desperate. Her daughter was suffering something so terrible that the condition was described as being “demon possessed” (Matt. 15:22).

She comes to Jesus, and he seems to be so focused on His mission to Israel that He isn’t interested in this woman or her daughter. She keeps insisting and the disciples get frustrated and ask Jesus to get rid of her. He didn’t make an attempt to get rid of her but he certainly affirmed what the culture of that day said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matt. 15:26).

We’re not sure all that Jesus intended by that statement, but it sure seems out of character. The woman didn’t care. In fact, she agreed with Him. She knew that in the eyes of the Jewish folks she was less than a dog, but she was desperate, and don’t ever mess with a desperate mom, when her desperation is because of her child. In essence she said to Jesus, “You’re right. I know who I am. I’m a nobody, according to the rules, but my daughter needs help. Even the family pet is allowed to eat food that has fallen on the floor” (See Matt. 15:27).

This stopped Jesus in His tracks, and the story takes an incredible turn. He is stirred by what He hears and tells her, right there in front of all who stood close by that her faith was great, and that she was going to get her request. (Matt. 15:28).

A Gentile woman stuns us by her faith and we see that in the things of God it isn’t our background or cultural situation that matters. What matters is that we have faith in God.

Faith in God is the distinguishing difference.

O, Canaanite woman, your faith is great. They will be telling your story ages and ages hence. They will tell of the day when the doors of the lost sheep of the house of David got blown off their hinges so that forever and ever whosoever will may be.

The God with whom nothing is impossible is among us in the person of Jesus. When Jesus told us to pray for God’s kingdom to come, He also modeled for us what it means for the kingdom of God to be with us. He shows us what the Father is like and how grace and mercy work in the world.

In truth, if we want to know about the kingdom we need to take a long look at Jesus. What is God like? Look at Jesus? What does grace look like? Take a look at Jesus. What does compassion for a broken world look like? Take a look at Jesus. What does honest and authentic humility look like? Take a look at Jesus. What does truth look like? Take a look at Jesus.

At the heart of the Christian faith is the fact that the eternal Word became flesh and blood, and that this Word made His home among us in Jesus (John 1:14). Whenever we see Jesus we see the eternal Word of God, enfleshed, being who He is in the natural order of things, as we perceive the natural order of things.

In this world our lives are covered by God. He is in our story. The question is whether or not we will open our hearts to His presence and let Him be who He is among us. Faith is like that. It embraces Jesus and longs for Him to be Himself in the midst of His people.

When Jesus is present all the possibilities of God are present, too. It is in this light we say that the God with whom nothing is impossible is among us in the person of Jesus. Embrace Him and let Him be Lord in you.