Mark : Mark 8:31-38
8:31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
8:32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
8:33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
8:34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
8:35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
8:36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
8:37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
8:38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
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We are a little bit too accustomed with the cross, because we take it as granted, like Jesus just did his job, and it is just normal. Despite of the popular opinion, it was not his favorite choice.
We tend to forget that this cross is not a nice thing, it is a brutal tool of a very graphic Roman type of execution, aiming torture and humiliation.
The transitional Protestantism, like the Lutherans and the Anglicans, kept a lot of the external practices of Rome, and among them they kept the cross as well, meanwhile some strict Calvinist denominations chose to put the Betlehem star on the steeple instead of the cross, by principle, and avoided any statues and paintings within the sanctuary, including crucifixes and embellished crosses.
The other side of this the already tossed coin of the cross symbol that the cross symbol went through a consolidation and became an acculturated item with positive connotations on that level that the negative impact it may drag with its usage almost completely melted away through the centuries or millennia.
However one thing is certain that Jesus did not love the cross. He prays in the Garden of the Gethsemane that he wished to avoid the cross as it is written in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26 that "Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” (...) Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” "
When he announced to the disciples that he must suffer, he can not avoid the cross, because it had been already predestined and even it was prophesied, that it will, it must happen. However, it still does not mean that the cross, a tool of torture and execution can be nice, or that a tool of execution should be celebrated or chosen to represent Christianity, because technically Peter is completely right when he burst out that Master, it just can not happen to You, as it is written in the Gospel of Mark that 8:32 "Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. " and in the Gospel of Mathew, chapter 16 that "Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” "
The Messiah King of Israel according to the popular tradition in Peter’s mind was supposed to be a victorious power figure, who can not be captured, tortured or killed by the enemy. Quite the contrary, he will be mighty enough to liberate Israel from the Roman occupation. The Messiah King will also cleanse the temple from the impostor priests and end the rule of the havoc running and foreign Herodian dynasty. Any weakness, valid or pretended, could be a disqualifying factor.
Peter was right in that, according to the common opinion, that it is theologically and tradition-wise completely impossible that the Messiah King of Israel might suffer a mocking and humiliating execution. However, Jesus was more right than Peter, because Heaven supported his argument, as it is written in the book of Isaiah, chapter 55 that ""For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Thus, Jesus counter-rebuked Peter saying, that "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
Jesus did not exactly call Peter the head of the Hell in the modern sense of the popular mythology, but in the sense of the antagonistic spirit, who is the accuser of the souls before God, which is closer to the original Hebrew interpretation.
Together with that, Jesus also reminded the disciples, that witnessing God and the truth of the Holy Scriptures is still a life risking adventure, just as the prophets always risked theirs, as it is written in the Gospel of Mark chapter eight that "He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "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, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it."
Which exactly meant, that if you loose your life serving God, then you will gain eternal life as a reward. As the earthly life in the visible world is very short, we must aim the eternal and invisible life, and must choose rather God and the Gospel.
We can still feel that the Apostle Peter was right though passionately compassionate. If you love Jesus, you do not want to see him tortured and crucified. There should be no theology to justify a wish like that. Jesus did not like torture and death, but he accepted the cross to suffer for the others, that many may have redemption by the merit of Jesus’ sacrificial sufferings. Still there is the big WHY, that in real life why should innocent or innocent-ish people suffer? Especially, if we exactly know that nobody is completely innocent, including us.
Rabbi Akiva is held even today a widely respected martyr sage against the militarized Roman tyranny, idolatry and imperial level slavery system. In the second century CE, he gave an explanation that in dealing with the question of the frequent sufferings of the pious and the prosperity of the wicked, we should consider that the pious are punished in this life for their few sins, in order that in the next life, in Heaven, they may receive only reward; while the wicked obtain in this world all the recompense for the little good they have done, and in the next world, in the Afterlife, which is Hell for the wicked, they will receive only punishment for their misdeeds.
It is quite the same what Jesus taught that "when you fast, don't be, as the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most assuredly I tell you, they have received their reward."
Because who receives all his rewards on Earth, they can not have rewards in Heaven as Jesus told sadly to his disciples, in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 19 that "Most assuredly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with great difficulty. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
Again, the main principle applies, because the rich man had received already his rewards on Earth, he can not have anything in Heaven.
That is why Jesus advised the rich young man to sell all his properties and give the money to the poor, and after that act, he can follow him wherever the Master goes.
According to the ancient sages, prophet Elijah said once that " if you see the wicked prospering, be not envious; if you see the righteous in poverty and trouble, be not doubtful of God’s justice.”
As believers we must trust the almighty and all-knowing God, that in Christ, whatever happens, whenever even afflictions and sufferings come into our lives, everything but everything serves our salvation by the saving grace of the Lord and by the healing power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
