Get Behind Me, Satan!
Once again, Jesus surprised me when He spoke sharply to Peter. When I read Peter’s words, it seemed he was trying to protect his friend. Peter was trying to shelter Jesus. He may not have understood what that meant.
This passage comes soon after the Transfiguration and the Gospel story we heard last week about Peter being given the keys to the Kingdom. Jesus’ words to Peter ring out harshly, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me…”
For the first time in my prayer, I connected this reading to the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. Three times Satan tempted Jesus, though tempted, Jesus did not succumb to the Devil’s taunts. The statement at the end of that passage in the Gospel of Luke is. “The Devil left Him then to await another opportunity.”
Maybe in the Gospel today, we witness another time when Jesus saw Satan’s attempt to tempt Him. It was like the days in the desert at the start of His ministry. This time, though, Satan worked through Peter, a man Jesus loved and respected. The temptation that Satan dangled before Jesus was to avoid the pain. The attraction was to do the safe thing and avoid the difficulties Jesus knew were coming.
In the fullness of His humanity, Jesus was afraid as He moved toward Jerusalem. He was not going joyfully to his humiliation and the agony of His suffering and death.
In the fullness of His humanity, Jesus must have been tempted to turn away from Jerusalem. He must have felt a tug deep within Himself to follow the words of Peter and stay safe and away from the pain that was to come.
Satan used Peter. He used Peter’s care and love for Jesus to tempt Jesus. I believe that Peter was an unwilling tool of the Devil. Peter did not willingly allow the Evil One to use him. Peter loved Jesus. Peter thought he was speaking out of love.
So, what is the bottom line for us? We must keep our eyes on God. He is the source and the center of our being. He alone calls us to go forward or to stay back.
The bottom line is Satan is alive and well. He is slick and wily. Satan disguises himself in the most innocuous places and people in our lives. We must be on guard. It is easy to get snagged in the Evil One’s web. Even those we love can become the unwitting tools of the Evil One.
How do we avoid temptation? We pray. We spend time in the very depths of our hearts and souls alone with the Lord. In the silence of our prayer, we listen and learn the ways and the Word of God. We hear His call, and we rest in His arms. We believe. And when we waiver, we call out and ask God to come and help us repel the forces of evil.
Jesus could continue moving toward Jerusalem because his heart was one with His Father. He knew what God was calling Him to do. Despite the temptation to walk away, Jesus was so firmly rooted in God that Jesus recognized the loving words of Peter as Satan’s sly attempt to trick Him. He would not waiver from the call of the Father, no matter the temptation of Satan.
Jesus knew the Father, Jesus loved God, and His relationship with God was strong enough that He could see through the slyest trick of Satan.
We, like Jesus, must be so rooted in God that no matter the strength of the winds of temptation, we keep walking toward God. No matter the slickness of the Devil’s attempts to seduce us, we remain one with God.
We can only do that when we know, love, and hear the voice of God in prayer.
In God’s Unending Love,
Gwen
