The Day Peter Went From the Top of the Class to the Bottom! - Listen to the Podcast Below!

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

Jesus Predicts His Death

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
It was certainly an interesting day for Peter.  He went from being the only disciple to get it right in saying Jesus was the Messiah, to being rebuked by Jesus who calls him Satan. So what accounts for Peter's reversal of fortune.  
I think the key to the answer lies in the Jewish view of the Messiah, a view Jesus' disciples probably held as well.  William Barclay New Testament commetator says this, 
“Sometimes the Messiah was thought of as a king of David’s line, but more often he was thought of as a great, super-human figure crashing into history to remake the world and in the end to vindicate God’s people…” (Barclay)
In Matthew's version of this story, Jesus even compliments Peter by saying, "Blessed are you for this was for no human being has revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven."  But then when Jesus reveals the true nature of his mission as the Messiah, Peter takes Jesus aside and "rebukes" him.  Peter was confident in what he was saying was correct, but in fact he was badly mistaken.  One commentator puts it this way, 
"Peter is a perfect example of how a sincere heart coupled with man’s thinking can often lead to disaster. "
What can we learn from this story?  I think we need to be careful to assume we know what God's will is?  Sometimes we can superimpose our own motives and desires and call it what Jesus wants us to do.  There is nothing wrong with being bold but let's make sure we are 'doing it out of the right motive which is usually putting Jesus' interests above our own.  

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