Matthew 16:21-28
The Christ who must suffer and rise calls His disciples to lose life for His sake in order to truly find it.
21 From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
22 Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
23 But he turned, and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
28 Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
The Christ who must suffer and rise calls his disciples to lose life for his sake in order to truly find it.
Matthew shows that the confessed Messiah must go to Jerusalem to suffer, die, and be raised, and that all who follow him must embrace cross-shaped discipleship under the hope of his coming glory.
Jesus' reference to Jerusalem identifies the center of Israel's religious leadership and the place where the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law will reject him. Matthew does not present Jesus' death as a tragic surprise but as the necessary road the Messiah knowingly enters.
The Confession of the Christ, the Church Christ Builds, and the Cross-Shaped Way of Discipleship
Jesus is the Messiah and Son of the living God who builds his church through the path of suffering, death, and resurrection, and all who follow him must embrace cross-shaped discipleship in light of his coming glory.