Peter's Protest 

Even while Jesus and three of his apostles (Peter, James, and John) were coming from the experience of the Transfiguration on Mount Hermon, Jesus began talking to the three about the certainty that he would be put to death and that he would rise again. Hearing the Master talk about dying and rising from the dead was a shocking development, and they could not understand its meaning. Peter was especially troubled by the Master’s words and tried to talk about anything other than that as they returned to join the other apostles.

After the healing of the epileptic boy, Jesus mentioned his death and resurrection again in the presence of all of the apostles, and they all retired for the night with these thoughts heavy on their minds.

The next day, they began traveling to Magadan. When they finally stopped for lunch, Andrew approached Jesus and told him that all of the apostles were worried and confused by what he had said about leaving them and dying. He asked Jesus to speak plainly and directly to them. And so Jesus did speak to them, explaining to them the truth about the end of his bestowal on this world.

He told them that because they had all agreed that he was the Son of God, they now needed to understand what would happen. He assured them he was not speaking a parable but the actual truth. He explained that although they were reluctant to accept that he was not the Messiah, he would not reign from a throne in Jerusalem. Instead, he was going to Jerusalem to face rejection by the Jewish leaders, endure suffering, and be killed, only to rise from the dead afterward. He told them they needed to be prepared when these things started unfolding.

But even before he finished speaking, Simon Peter rushed up to him and said:

“Master, be it far from us to contend with you, but I declare that these things shall never happen to you.”

Peter said this out of his spirit of love and concern for Jesus, but the human Jesus saw in Peter’s words the possibility that he and the other apostles might want to tempt Jesus to abandon his decision to follow his Father’s will. He had just made that decision during the Transfiguration, and he could not allow even the loving sentiment of his chosen apostles to tempt his human nature to favor taking an easier path. So, he turned to Peter and said: “Get you behind me. You savor the spirit of the adversary, the tempter. When you talk in this manner, you are not on my side but rather on the side of our enemy. In this way do you make your love for me a stumbling block to my doing the Father’s will. Mind not the ways of men but rather the will of God.”

Jesus told his apostles that it was time that they stop trying to influence him, but bravely follow him and the course he had chosen. Among other things, he told them: “If any man would come after me, let him disregard himself, take up his responsibilities daily, and follow me. For whosoever would save his life selfishly, shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's, shall save it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What would a man give in exchange for eternal life? Be not ashamed of me and my words in this sinful and hypocritical generation, even as I will not be ashamed to acknowledge you when in glory I appear before my Father in the presence of all the celestial hosts.”

Jesus’ swift and impassioned response to Peter shocked the apostles; he had always been tolerant of their shortcomings. But this suggestion of Peter’s posed a subtle but potentially real threat to Jesus' chosen course for the remainder of his bestowal mission.

The apostles still could not grasp the true import of all Jesus was saying about his death and resurrection, but as the days passed, Peter, James, and John began to understand more when they recalled the events of the Transfiguration. The rest of the apostles also slowly began to realize what lay ahead for the Master and that they would be following him into these coming events. But none of them fully grasped the truth until these tragic events began unfolding.

Jesus and the twelve began their journey to Magadan Park via Capernaum in silence. As the afternoon wore on, they spoke among themselves while Andrew talked to Jesus.

Later in the day, they ended up at Peter’s house. After dinner, when they were getting ready to depart, Jesus asked Peter and the other apostles what they had been talking about all afternoon while walking along the road. He was well aware of what they had been discussing, but the apostles were reluctant to tell Jesus they had been discussing who would be greater in the coming kingdom.

Jesus then called one of Peter’s children to him. He sat the child down among the apostles and said, “ Verily, verily, I say to you, unless you turn about and become more like this child, you will make little progress in the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever shall humble himself and become as this little one, the same shall become greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso receives such a little one receives me. And they who receive me receive also Him who sent me. If you would be first in the kingdom, seek to minister these good truths to your brethren in the flesh.”

Jesus went on to tell the apostles that if anyone caused an innocent like this child to stumble, it would be better that he should have a millstone hung around his neck and jump into the sea. He told them that anything that stands in the way of their progress in the kingdom has to be sacrificed. It’s far better to be without things that stand in the way of progress than holding onto such false idols at the cost of being shut out of the kingdom.

He finished by saying: “But most of all, see that you despise not one of these little ones, for their angels do always behold the faces of the heavenly hosts.”