Background Passages: Matthew 16:23-27
Though many kings and conquerors held such lofty ambitions, no one ever came close to ruling the whole world. A quick journey through history reveals a host of men who gave it their best shot. Sargon of Akkad. Julius Caesar, Cyrus the Great. Genghis Kahn. They and many others held stated goals of ruling the known world.
Alexander the Great of Macedonia carried similar ambitions and came close to seeing it through. Despite conquering most of the known world and gaining vast wealth and tremendous power, Alexander finally recognized the folly and hubris in his effort. Nearing the end of his life, he said, “When my casket is being carried to the grave, leave my hands hanging outside. For empty-handed, I came into this world and empty handed, I shall go! My whole life has been a hallow waste, a futile exercise, for no one at death can take anything with them!”
When I read that quote this week, I was reminded of two rhetorical questions Jesus asked his disciples as he neared the end of his earthly ministry.
“For what profit is it to a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What can anyone give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
It is an intriguing question that made me wonder why Jesus posed it to his closest followers. When something piques my interest, I’m usually curious enough to keep digging.
Jesus kept a frenetic pace while ministering to the multitudes in Galilee. Crowds of people followed him around seeking his teaching and his touch. Shortly after Jesus fed the 5,000, he took his closest disciples north to Caesarea Philippi.
Though the Bible doesn’t tell us why, the region around Caesarea Philippi was more sparsely populated. Jesus was now weeks away from the cross. Many biblical scholars speculate Jesus left the crowds behind in order to spend quiet and quality time with his disciples. He needed them to understand what was going to happen over the course of the next few weeks. He needed them to be ready for his death and to know what was expected of them.
In one quiet moment in Caesarea Philippi, surrounded by the temples to the various pagan gods, Jesus asked his disciples what the people were saying about him. They told him some people were calling him John the Baptist. Others thought him to be Elijah, Jeremiah or some other prophet of God.
“Who do you say that I am?” he asked his disciples. In typical fashion, Peter blurted out an answer for all of them,
“You are the Christ! The Messiah!”
The affirmation Peter spoke had to be both gratifying and troubling to Jesus. Gratifying, in that the disciples understood at some level of faith who Jesus was. Troubling, in that they didn’t fully understand what that meant.
As they began the journey toward Galilee and on to Jerusalem, Jesus began to teach them that he would suffer at the hands of the religious leaders…that he would be killed and would rise from the dead on the third day.
Peter took exception to what he considered morbid and fatalistic teaching. Pulling Jesus aside, scripture says that Peter “rebuked” him, saying essentially, “Stop talking like this. You’re frightening the others. This will never happen to you. Not on my watch! You are destined to rule.”
Jesus’ words to Peter cut to the quick, stunning the disciple to silence.
“Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Matthew 16:23)
The terse exchange between Jesus and Peter opened the door to deeper teaching about God’s priorities. Read the words of Christ.
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his very soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person for what he has done.” (Matthew 16:24-27)
Peter’s concerns about Jesus’ impending death were human concerns. It seems his understanding of Messiah, though tilted toward the miraculous power of Jesus’ teaching and miracles, most closely aligned with that of the rest of Israel as they looked to the Messiah to free them from the yoke of Roman oppression.
Peter had his mind and heart set on human things.
The question Jesus posed moves beyond rhetorical when we look into our own hearts. Are there concerns in our lives that take precedence over the things of God? Is our pursuit of those things putting us in danger of losing our very soul?
Let’s get the easy part out of the way. I believe God wants the very best for every one of his children. There is nothing wrong with gaining wealth, fame, success and power if those things are God’s plan for your life, if you’ve acknowledged that those blessings come only from God’s good grace and you use the blessings to meet the needs of others. However, to seek to tuck God in the corner of your life while you pursue earthly things runs counter to God’s will for his people. Jesus said doing so, will cost you.
The price for pursuing human concerns is our soul. Those who reject the call of Christ and chase after the things of this world, will face eternal condemnation as a result of their choice. Even if they rise to rule the world, the cost, says Jesus, is too high.
Believers who make that sincere, initial faith commitment then get bogged down in the things of the world, may not lose their eternal soul, but their lives will never experience the deep contentment, inner joy and peace God promises through our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Their souls, their lives, are wasted potential in pursuit of things that ultimately don’t matter. The light God called them to be is hidden under a bushel of ambitions never fully realized.
Solomon, God’s anointed king of Israel, denied himself nothing, seeking greater pleasure and greater wealth. When he realized what it cost him in relationship to his God, he said in Proverbs 1 that everything he gained is “meaningless,” “vanity,” a “chasing after the wind.”
Solomon knew that by chasing after earthly blessings as the primary motive of our lives outside the will of God we compromise the very being of our souls. The fruit of our spirit rots on the vine. We inevitably lack the love, compassion, peace, gentleness, patience and self-control. Those things come our way only when we abide in Christ.
When Jesus responded to Peter’s rebuke, he outlined succinctly the cost of discipleship. This is the hard part of his statement. Simple in its concept. Difficult in its execution.
Pick up your cross and follow.
Give up your life for his sake.
Let go of your hold on the world.
We are called to die to the life we think we deserve and yield our lives to Jesus as boss of our lives. To surrender our will to the will of God. To go where he sends us. To make a difference in the lives of others in the place he sends us and the time he allots us.
When you really think about what Jesus said, he’s simply asking us to do what he did for us. No more. No less. The Rev. Charles Hoffacker put it this way. “This request shatters the life of every Christian like a rock thrown through glass. Echoing Peter’s refusal, we don’t want a suffering Messiah, one who calls us to no better place than his own, a cross with our name on it…The formation of Christian character over time then shows itself decisively. Jesus offers us a cross with insistence and we take hold of it, guided more by faith than fear.”
To be a disciple, a learner and follower of Christ, I must take up my cross and follow Jesus. It is a call to self-sacrifice. Absolute surrender to God. To die to self, as Paul declared, and live for Christ. Christ modeled the life we are called to live. You and I are called to live Christ-like lives. To follow in those remarkable footsteps. To love the lost as much as he did. To care for one another as much as he did. To mirror his compassion. To live faithfully even in the most demanding times. To declare as he did in the garden, “not my will, but yours be done.”
Given how much I struggle to pick up my cross, Jesus asked a really good question.
“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?”
To those of us who know what he desires for us, the question begs an answer, doesn’t it?