Lesson 1657

(Lesson 1657)(04-23-16) Mark 8:31-38

"And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Today's lesson, should in a way, run concurrent with yesterday's in that it helps disprove the Roman Catholic contention that Jesus would choose Peter as the ultimate first "leader" and authority over all others in His church.

Jesus, speaking directly to Peter, said, "Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men." It is in my opinion totally illogical to assume that Jesus would appoint a man that He so readily referred to as "Satan" to such a position of high authority so as to rule over the beginnings of Christianity.

The fact that Peter was never intended to be any more of an authority over the church than anyone else is borne out by what Jesus Himself said in Matthew 20:25-28, in part, "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. BUT IT SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your *minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to *minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

In the last part of today's quote, speaking to people like Peter who obviously placed earthly pride over the message of eternal salvation by grace through faith that Jesus conveyed, Jesus made it vividly clear that the things of this earth should by all means and on all occasions, take a back seat to the public ministry of His gospel.~

*The term minister, as it is applied in this text, is defined by Strong's bible dictionary as: "one who executes the commands of another, esp. of a master, a servant, attendant, minister, the servant of a king, a deacon, one who, by virtue of the office assigned to him by the church, cares for the poor and has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use, a waiter, one who serves food and drink.