Devotional Thoughts: Jesus predicts his death

Matthew 16:21-28 I suppose described the "end of the beginning."

It said in v. 21, "From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly ... He would be killed and he would be raised on the third day."

Prior to this, Jesus spoke of "the sign of Jonah" as a way of indicating what his future would hold. Now, he spoke openly of his meeting with destiny at the Cross.

Upon hearing this Peter, brash Peter, in v. 22 took Jesus aside and said, "Heaven forbid, Lord. This will never happen to you!"

Jesus responded forcefully, in v. 23, "Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view and not from God's."

In v. 24, Jesus told them, "shoulder your cross and follow me."

To our modern ears, that doesn't leave much of an impression on us. But for people of that era, that is a HORRIFYING thought!!

If one saw the film, The Passion of the Christ, one gets a sense of how terrible crucifixion is.

The Romans ruled as far as the eye could see in that land. They carried out public executions using crucifixion because it was an exceedingly painful way to die (the word EXCRUCIATING is derived from this) and thus the populace would be cowed with fear.

But Jesus offered them re-assurance, in v. 25, "if you give up your life for me, you will find true life" and in v. 27, "I, the son of man, will come in the glory of my Father with his angels and will judge all people according to their deeds."

I read this passage and feel humbled. How much would I be willing to sacrifice to follow Jesus?

In my 42 years of life, only on a few occasions was I in circumstances where I could have or thought I could have died and none had anything to do with my faith in Jesus. The possibility of death by accident, crime or medical concern is just a fact of life. Nonetheless, each incident left me humbled because I felt afraid.

I don't know how extensive is persecution of Christians today. I'll have to read up about it. But apparently, some Christians are calling for a A Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on November 13.