In last week’s lesson, we looked at “life’s most important question” to which Peter acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. Now Jesus tells them that to make this confession of faith requires certain changes in our life.Jesus had continued teaching about what it meant to be the Messiah, the Christ. He said that He would have to suffer and die, but that He would be raised in three days. This was beyond what they understood about the Messiah, so Peter just had to say something. What Jesus said must happen, Peter insisted would never happen! (Mt. 16:22).Peter had good intensions, but he ended up speaking the very desire of Satan. Jesus rebuked Peter sternly: “Get behind me, Satan!” Satan had come back to tempt Jesus again, not as a roaring lion, but in the voice of a caring friend. How sobering to realize that Satan can come at us from many different fronts and can even use those closest to us to try to derail us from God’s ways and God’s plan.Jesus continued to teach the disciples and the crowd. Jesus had brought His disciples to the point of confessing who He was. Jesus had then made it clear what it meant for Him to be the Messiah. And now He called the crowd around Him to announce to the world and to all generations what it means to be a follower of Jesus.There is a startling honesty and clarity in Jesus’ words. No one could ever say that they were persuaded to follow Jesus under false pretenses. Jesus never tried to manipulate people by promising an easy way. He never promised that following Him would be “health and wealth.” Jesus never offered an easy way – His way is a challenging way, none could be higher or harder.Also Jesus never called on others to do or face anything that He was not prepared to do and to face Himself. He did not sit in safety and ease while demanding great sacrifice from His followers. So He explains what it means to follow Him.First, Jesus requires that His disciples deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. Obviously, He is using the word “cross” in a figurative sense meaning that we must be prepared to deny ourselves in order to follow Him. We must say “no” to self and “yes” to Christ. We must say “no”
