TRANSLATION MATTHEW 16: 21

From that time Jesus began to show his pupils that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo many hardships at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the legal experts and be put to death. And be awakened on the third day. Then Peter, taking him aside, began to chide him, “God love you, master! This must not be for you!” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get in your place behind me, you Satan! You are a stone to make me stumble, for you are not thinking of God’s benefit but of human benefit.”

Then Jesus said to his pupils, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must forget himself, shoulder his execution stake, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it; but whoever loses his soul for my sake, will find it. For what advantage will it be to a human being to gain the whole cosmos and forfeit his soul? Or what will a human being give in exchange for his soul? For the son of man is about to arrive with his messengers, in the splendour of his father; and will reward each one according to his conduct. Amen, I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they have seen the son of man coming as ruler.

Matthew is following his source, Mark, not only in the narration of incidents, but in his fundamental narrative in which the success of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, leads to Peter’s declaration that he is the Messiah, as well as opposition from religious leaders; followed by a journey towards Jerusalem marked by increasing opposition, danger and death on a Roman execution stake. “Of course,” we say, “that’s obviously how it happened.” I think it’s perfectly possible that it is not how it happened, but it became the shape of the gospel as preached by the first believers, and elaborated in the four gospels we recognise as scripture.

( I have read passages of gospel material from a Christian community in northern India of the 8th century CE, which focus on Jesus’ wisdom and hardly mention his suffering and death. The “life” of Jesus is shaped by the storytellers. I think the material was called Jesus Sutras.)

In this passage Jesus insists on his own destiny of suffering and death using the greek word “dei” which indicates necessity. The suffering is a divine necessity because it is God’s way. This is such a challenge to all conventional theologies that one sympathises with Peter’s response. But his conventional view of the privileges of deity is met with a devastating rejection by Jesus. Peter must get back in line! I have tried in my translation of the greek”skandalon” to connect the “stone to make me stumble” with the “rock on which I will build my assembly..” Peter is only a rock if he learns to embrace suffering.

Jesus’ passionate teaching about the cost of discipleship is unequivocal, insisting on forgetfulness of self, and readiness to “take up the execution stake.” The reference is not to Jesus’ crucifixion nor to generalised suffering, but to the Roman punishment for rebels, especially anyone claiming to be the true king of Israel, the Messiah. Jesus has no earthly power but he will not deny his challenge to the worldly power of his time and space. We should not expect the followers of Jesus to ally themselves with major social or political powers in the world.

Then there is the terrible question, “what advantage will it be to a human being to gain the whole cosmos and forfeit his soul.?” And the haunting, “what will a human being give in exchange for his soul?” The first of these deals with the huge drive for power that some persons have. Jesus suggests that it can only be satisfied at the loss of person’ s inner reality. But the second saying, what does it mean? Perhaps it envisages the loss of the soul: what could we give to get it back? Jesus’ wisdom here touches on profound issues of human existence.

Compromised human beings are faced with the imminent arrival of the son of man, that is, the shared justice of God’s rule. It is so imminent that some pupils will encounter it in their lives. This prediction of Jesus has caused all manner of problems for scholars, but as with all things in Matthew the best interpretation is what comes next.