Peter, like many of us, had right information understood the wrong way.
I’m not talking about head vs. heart knowledge.
I’m talk about having our mind set on human ways instead of God’s ways.
Lent is the time to transform what we think to be right knowledge into the right way of living (because we aren’t just made for thinking).
Peter’s Right Confession and Wrong Rebuke
Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8: 29).
Peter responds with the right information: “You are the Messiah.”
But Peter understands this in the wrong way.
When Jesus explains that the Messiah—the Christ—will not ride in victory against the Romans, or be embraced with joy in Jerusalem, but will instead suffer, be rejected, and killed—Peter is upset.
So Peter steps forward—no longer following behind as a disciples—pulls Jesus off the way, and rebukes Jesus.
Peter knows better than Jesus the way that Jesus should take.
Peter knows better than Jesus what it takes to get things done.
Peter knows better than Jesus how Jesus should save the world.
But Peter doesn’t know much.
Because what he does know he knows in the wrong way.
Get Behind Me, Satan.
Peter’s “right knowledge the wrong way” is Satanic according to Jesus.
Rather than being a follower on the way of Jesus, Peter is now standing in the way of Jesus. And this is the work of Satan.
Instead of learning the way of Jesus, Peter decides he needs to be the teacher. And this is the same as being Satan himself.
The problem, Jesus tells Peter, is that “you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (Mark 8:33).
Being a follower of Jesus is not about Information, but about the right mindset, the right framework for understanding the world, the right way of having information.
Lent Leads Us In This Shift
Lent is focused around three fundamental practices: prayer, fasting, giving to the poor.
And these practices, these ways of living (not just thinking) transform our mind toward the things of God (as Romans 12:2 tells us to do).
Prayer: Prayer can feel useless, a waste of time, a one-way conversation. But a commitment to prayer leads us away from relying on human effort. It is a direct connection to the things (and ways) of God.
Fasting: Fasting leads us away from being controlled by our desires, wants, and needs (even if legitimate). Fasting moves us from a “daily desires” mindset to a “hunger for the things of God” mindset.
Giving to the Poor: Almsgiving moves us from a “transactional, earning what you have, and getting what you deserve” mindset to a “grace and love” mindset. Giving to the poor of our possessions leads us to a concern for “what we have” to a focus on “what we have received and can give” mindset.
Rediscovering the Way of Jesus
Will we enter the way of Jesus?
Or just be content with information?
Please sign up for my newsletter (or go up the sidebar) so you don’t miss anything because of the social media churn. And you get part of my most recent book.