I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Mark 8-9

When we read about Jesus telling His disciples about the suffering He would soon suffer and Peter taking Him aside to talk to Him, we don’t often really think about what Peter was thinking.  It seems to me that Peter took Jesus aside for one of two reasons, both of which were noble.  First, Peter may have thought that Jesus was becoming too negative.  Perhaps, Peter thought that Jesus was becoming depressed over the opposition which He was facing.  Second, Peter may have thought that Jesus’ statements about the suffering He would soon experience would unnecessarily discourage others.   In either case, Peter misunderstood what Jesus was saying.  Jesus was not being a “Debbie downer” when He spoke of his coming suffering and death.  He was preparing His disciples for what was coming.  Peter saw Jesus’ predictions of His coming suffering and death as a sign that Jesus thought He was failing.  Jesus saw His coming suffering and death as signs of His success.

Jesus uses Peter’s attempt to “buck him up” as a teaching moment.  He tells us that if we strive to avoid pain and suffering, we will fail.  And not only will we fail to avoid pain and suffering, we will fail to serve God.  A Science Fiction writer whose work I love has her main character say something similar to what Jesus says here.  The character has been desperately seeking something, then at one point, when he seems close to getting it, he walks away from making any further effort to get it.  When asked why, he responds that he realized that it does you no good to obtain your heart’s desire if you give up your heart to get it.  Spoiler alert, he gets what he was seeking anyway.  In fact, he gets it because he refused to compromise his ethics to get it.  That is similar to Jesus’ point here.  If you are not willing to face suffering and death to do what is right, you will still face death and suffering with the knowledge that you did not do the right thing.  On the other hand, if you do the right thing in the face of suffering and death, any suffering you experience will bring you joy.