<p>16:23&nbsp;<i>Turned and said</i>- The very same words are used in Lk. 22:61 where the Lord turns and&nbsp;<i>looks</i>&nbsp;upon Peter. The repetition of such visual images serves to teach how circumstances are repeated in human lives, each bearing the same Divine hallmark. The way the Lord &quot;turned&quot; and addressed people is recorded often in the Gospels, especially noticed by Luke (Lk. 7:9,44; 9:55; 10:23; 14:25; 22:61; 23:28; Jn. 1:38). Again this is exactly what we would expect from eyewitness testimony- a certain physical characteristic or aspect of body language noticed, remembered and reflected in a write up of those memories.</p>
<p>The Gospel records, Luke especially, often record how the Lord turned and spoke to His followers- as if He was in the habit of walking ahead of them, with them following (Lk. 7:9,44,55; 10:23; 14:25; 23:28; Mt. 9:22; Jn. 1:38). As we saw above, Peter thought that following the Lord was not so hard, because he was literally following Jesus around first century Israel, and identifying himself with His cause. But he simply failed to make the connection between following and cross carrying. And we too can agree to follow the Lord without realizing that it means laying down our lives. The Lord brought Peter to face this with a jolt in Mt. 16:22-25. Peter was following Jesus, after He had predicted His crucifixion (for Jesus &ldquo;turned, and said unto Peter&rdquo;). He thought he was following Jesus. But he was told: &ldquo;Get thee&nbsp;<i>behind me</i>&hellip; if any man will come&nbsp;<i>after me</i>&nbsp;(s.w. &lsquo;behind me&rsquo;), let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and&nbsp;<i>follow me</i>&nbsp;(s.w.)&rdquo;. The italicized words are all the same in the original. Peter didn&rsquo;t want the Lord to die by crucifixion at Jerusalem, because he saw that as a follower of Jesus this required that he too must die a like death. Peter needed to get behind Jesus in reality and really follow, in the sense of following to the cross, although he was there physically behind Jesus, physically following at that time. The Lord was saying: &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t think of trying to stop me dying. I will, of course. But concentrate instead on&nbsp;<i>really</i>&nbsp;getting behind me in the sense of carrying my cross&rsquo;. John&rsquo;s record stresses that the key to following Jesus to the cross is to hear His word, which beckons us onwards (Jn. 10:4,27). All our Bible study must lead us onwards in the life of self-sacrifice. But Peter loved the Lord&rsquo;s words; but, as pointed out to him at the transfiguration, he didn&rsquo;t hear those words of Christ deeply. And so he missed the call to the cross. He had just stated that Jesus was Messiah; but soon afterwards he is recorded as saying that it was intrinsic within Jesus&rsquo; Messiahship that He&nbsp;<i>mustn&rsquo;t</i>&nbsp;die or suffer.</p>
<p><i>To Peter</i>- Mark says the Lord &ldquo;rebuked&rdquo; him (Mk. 8:33). But the very same Greek word has occurred just prior in the narrative, when Peter has just declared Jesus to be &ldquo;the Christ of God&rdquo;. The Lord responded by commending Peter for his blessed insight, but the record continues: &ldquo;And [Jesus] strictly charged them [s.w. &ldquo;rebuked&rdquo;] them, and commanded them to tell [i.e. preach to] no man that thing&rdquo;, and He goes on to underline to them how He must suffer on the cross (Lk. 9:21). Why did the Lord both commend and rebuke Peter for discerning that He was indeed the Christ of God? Surely because, in the context, Peter understood Messiah to be someone who would there and then bring salvation without the cross. Again we see how there was something in Peter as there is in us all which somehow revolted at the idea of real cross carrying. And it was for the same reason that the Lord &ldquo;strictly charged&rdquo; [s.w. rebuked] those who wanted to blaze around the news that He was Messiah- because they didn&rsquo;t perceive that the Messiah must first suffer and rise again before being declared in fullness &ldquo;Lord and Christ&rdquo;.&nbsp;</p>
<p><i>Get behind Me, Satan</i>- When He said He was going up to Jerusalem to die, Peter asked him not to. &ldquo;Get behind me, Satan&quot; was not the Lord wishing temptation to get behind him. He was telling Peter, whom He here calls &lsquo;Satan&rsquo;, to get behind Him and follow Him up there to Jerusalem, carrying His cross with Him (Mt. 16:23). Peter didn&rsquo;t want the Lord to go up there, to die like that, because he knew that this meant that he too must carry the cross. Here lies the reason for our recoiling at the cross. We realize that it implies all too much for us, if this is truly what the Lord went through.</p>
<p>&quot;Get&quot; is the same word translated &quot;Get hence [Satan]&quot; in Mt. 4:10. The temptation here was to take Peter's position and think that the Kingdom was possible without the death of the cross. And clearly the situation here is reminiscent of the wilderness temptation, which was in essence the same- to think of ways around the cross. And again, the Lord told the Satan to &quot;get hence&quot;. In essence, this is the sum of all human temptation, hence the Lord's very clear statement in the next two verses about the absolutely unavoidable necessity of the cross. The Lord was therefore speaking to Himself when He envisaged a person wishing to &quot;save his life&quot;, to avoid death, yet wanting to &quot;gain the whole world&quot;. This had been exactly the temptation of 4:8, to try to take &quot;the whole world&quot; without the death of the cross (:26). The command to 'get away behind' the Lord and follow Him is expanded upon in :24,25 to mean 'to follow to the cross'. But by the time of His death, the Lord knew that Peter just wasn't going to make it. For the Lord uses the same word translated &quot;Get&quot; here in Jn. 13:36 in telling Peter: &quot;Where I am now<i>&nbsp;going</i>&nbsp;[s.w. &quot;get&quot;], you cannot follow Me [s.w. Mt. 16:24 &quot;follow Me&quot;] now&quot;. It seems it was the Lord's particular desire that Peter should die with Him on the cross - Peter's willingness to do this was therefore partly a desire to follow his Lord's intention for him, rather than the mere language of bravado. But finally He realized that Peter wasn't going to make it, at least not at that time: &quot;But you shall follow Me eventually&quot; (Jn. 13:36). We can usefully meditate upon the Lord's intentions for us, and at what times He intended us to rise up to them... and how even when we fail to mature as we should, He still holds out hope that we shall eventually get there. And this is to be reflected in our patience with our likewise developing brethren.</p>
<p><i>&quot;</i>Behind Me&quot; is the same word translated &quot;come after Me&quot; in :24. This is a command to Peter to stop trying to dissuade Christ from the cross, but rather to get behind Him and carry that cross. Note how following behind the Lord and carrying His cross are identified in 10:38; Lk. 9:23; 14:27. Instead of just literally walking behind Him, the Lord is saying that real discipleship is to carry a cross behind Him.</p>
<p><i>You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man</i>- The Greek&nbsp;<i>skandalon</i>&nbsp;literally means a trap or snare. But the Lord Jesus saw the snare and therefore didn't fall into it.&nbsp; Peter's attitude was a snare to the Lord in that it was attractive to Him- a savouring of the flesh rather than of Godly things was therefore attractive to the Lord. Some reflection on this will surely find in this a profound evidence of the Lord's utter humanity. For 'very God of very God' would no way have reasoned like this nor found the things of men an attraction over the things of God. Peter's fleshly thinking was a trap or snare to the Lord Jesus in that it was found superficially attractive by Him.</p>