Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the 13th Sunday after Trinity. Our Church Services today are at the usual times of 9.15 am at St Agnes' and 11 am at St Thomas'.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you can find the Gospel reading for today, a reflection and prayers below.
Our first hymn this morning is "Brother, Sister, Let Me Serve You"
Today's Gospel
Matthew 16:21-28 Jesus Predicts His Death
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Reflection
‘Get thee behind me Satan'! That seems a bit harsh doesn’t it?
Poor old Peter, last week he was the best thing since sliced bread. The rock on whom Jesus said He will build His church. The first disciple to confess that Jesus was Christ, the Messiah and Son of God. Yet here immediately after He is being admonished in no uncertain terms by Jesus.
Put yourself in Peter’s shoes for a moment. Here is Jesus, someone he really loves and cares about deeply. Someone who He has followed and left everything behind for, and who Peter now recognises as The Messiah. Someone who he probably expects will be a great conqueror like David and raise armies to defeat the Romans.
Yet here Jesus is saying, sorry pal, that’s not going to happen. I’m just going to go to Jerusalem, upset a lot of important people, then get horribly punished and brutally killed before being raised on the third day. Might this seem a bit like you’ve been planning your future and all the things you’re going to do with your partner and then they come home and tell you they’ve just been diagnosed with cancer?
I wonder how Peter felt when Jesus said, “Get thee behind me Satan"? After all, surely Peter was reacting from emotion and love for Jesus. So, I have some sympathy for Peter in this scenario.
Of course, with hindsight, it is perhaps easier for us to see why Jesus reacted as he did. Jesus was aware of the fate that awaited Him. Jesus was one hundred percent committed to His destiny, to doing what God wanted Him to do. Yet here was Peter, albeit in his innocence, suggesting that Jesus should just abandon all that He will stand for. Peter was trying to save Jesus, His mistake was that he just didn’t understand that Jesus didn’t need saving, because it was Jesus’ role to save us!
Cast your minds back a little, to just after Jesus had been baptised in the Jordan, He went off into the wilderness and was tempted several times by Satan to abuse His power as the Son of God. Here, at this point, Jesus can see the hand of Satan once more, using Peter to try and manipulate Him from fulfilling His chosen path again. Because Jesus hasn’t come to save the world with armies and force; He has come to be a suffering servant who will die for the sins of his people. He has come to show us that the way to redemption is to be less self-serving and more loving for others.
So what does Jesus mean when He says, to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Perhaps rather than asking Jesus to change His plans, it might be us who need to re-evaluate our plans. What things in our lives are holding us back from being less self- serving and more like Jesus, seeing the beauty and reward of helping others? Paul
Our Prayers
Lord of goodness, mercy and love,
We pray that you will open our eyes to see how we need to change our lives to be more like you.
Show us what we need to surrender in our lives and what we need to prioritise
