There’s an undeniable tension between human thinking and God’s thinking. It comes up again and again in Scripture. From Isaiah to St Paul we hear a version of God’s word to Isaiah:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways…”
In today’s gospel we see this principle played out in practice between Jesus and Peter. Peter is horrified by Jesus’ teaching that the Son of Man was destined to be rejected, suffer, die and rise again. He takes Jesus aside and remonstrates with him.
We don’t really know what Peter’s motivation was. He may have been shocked that the image of the Messiah Jesus presented wasn’t the one he’d been expecting. He might have been scared about where this path might lead himself and the other disciples. He may have been worried about the reaction of the disciples to such a stark message.
We do know that Jesus’ response is a rebuke and a challenge:
“He rebuked Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but the human way.’”
Jesus’ words challenge us as much as they do Peter. They remind us that, in following him we are to strive to align our hearts and minds with God’s way of thinking. It’s a call to be kind and compassionate, to give people the benefit of the doubt and not to judge. In these unsettling times that’s more important than ever.
What does it mean for you to “put on the mind of Christ” in your life today?