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From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.   Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, “Far be it from You , Lord! he said.   “This shall never happen to You!”  But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”…

When we read this incident recorded in the gospels, we may be inclined to assume Jesus was calling Peter , “satan”,  when what actually occurred was that Jesus first rebuked Satan, who was the invisible instigator of Peter’s suggestions to Jesus.   THEN He corrected Peter, telling him he is looking at things with the eyes of man and not through spiritual eyes.   His remark to Jesus, while intended in good faith,  was actually instigated by satan as a stumbling block for Jesus.. to attempt to discourage Jesus from continuing the mission that the Father had sent Him for..  the ultimate mission of the Cross of sacrifice for all mankind.

Often , we as Christians, with good intentions , can be used by satan without us realizing it when we tell another fellow Christian to “pity themselves ” or “don’t put up with that from that person!”  etc…     To follow Jesus all the way up that mountain, we also are given a portion of the larger cup Jesus drank, and thus, we are united with Him in His sufferings (to a lesser degree than He, of course)    Jesus never considered Himself, His self-rights, and how unfair He was treated.    He considered only the will of the Father regardless of how unfair it appeared.

Jesus was so misunderstood because of this.    Even the Samaritan villagers were offended at Him because they noticed “His face was set toward Jerusalem”.    They were offended because Jerusalem was an influential city that despised the Samaritans.    The Samaritans didn’t realize that the only reason Jesus was determined to head toward Jerusalem, was not to have some religious celebration, but because that is where He would die… outside of the city gates for all mankind.    The Samaritans had no idea ;  instead they forbade Him from entering their city because they became offended in Him.    James and John asked Jesus if they could call down fire from Heaven to consume these Samaritans for their rudeness, but Jesus., Who never considered Himself or His rights,  told His disciples that they knew not what spirit they were speaking from..  that He did not come to destroy but to save.

How far removed is our way of thinking compared with Christ’s!