Tackling Tradition 45: Get Behind Me Satan!

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”  (Matthew 16:24–28, ESV)

In Matthew 16, Yeshua calls Peter “Satan,” and accuses him of being a hindrance.   Ecclesiastical Tradition tells us that Peter’s words are an example of unbelief & hint at his alleged cowardice when the time came to follow Yeshua to His trial.   This furthers the overall narrative about Peter that essentially paints him as an ignorant fisherman who came to follow Yeshua & who became a courageous Evangelist & Apostle from Acts Chapter 1 forward.   Before then, he was of little faith & rather clumsy with his words, eventually denying Yeshua as the nadir of his pre-Acts role in the New Testament narrative.    

The reality, as we have earlier discussed, doesn’t look at all like that.  So — What’s happening in this text?  

In reality, Peter knew where this conversation was going & deliberately placed a hindrance in Yeshua’s way in order to test Yeshua’s resolve. You can tell by way of the placement of this pericope in the text.    

First, after yet another confrontation with the Religious Establishment, Peter recognizes Yeshua as the Christ.   Then Yeshua talks about His impending death & resurrection.   Peter responds by placing a hindrance in Yeshua’s way, testing Yeshua’s resolve.   Yeshua rebukes Peter as an accuser — not just a hindrance — a specific sort of hindrance, an accusing adversary.    

They have just faced a bunch of lawyers & priests, many of whom were Yeshua’s accusers who were also hypocrites & legalists.   Now, Peter is acting like a lawyer-accuser himself.   He’s reminding Yeshua & the reader of who the real adversaries are & what Yeshua is up against.     This is an act if courage on Peter’s part & sets up what comes next. 

Having now faced rhetorical resistance from Peter, the next pericope is about the cost of discipleship.   To follow Yeshua is ultimately to be willing to give up everything if called upon to do so. 

What follows is the Transfiguration.   Then what follows is a series of challenges that prove Yeshua is no hypocrite & practices what He preaches.    

Yeshua is undergoing a number of tests of His own character, & His disciples are also depicted here bickering among themselves as their own test of Yeshua’s character.   **He** is the greatest among them, & His disciples already knew this.  They are testing Him relative to power, prestige, & position by a real or IMO manufactured drama.   He passes the test & is shown to be no hypocrite.  

See here for the Lukan Narrative.