“Get behind Me, Satan..."

Mark 8:22-38 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

 And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. ²³ Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” ²⁴ And he looked up and said, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.” ²⁵ Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. ²⁶ And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

²⁷ Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸ They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹ And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.” ³⁰ And He warned them to tell no one about Him.

³¹ And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. ³³ But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

³⁴ And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. ³⁵ For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? ³⁷ For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

In today’s text when Peter rebuked Jesus saying that He would not be killed by the elders, chief priests and scribes, Jesus says:  “Get behind Me, Satan.”  Just moments before Jesus asked who the disciples said Jesus was and Peter answered: “You are the Christ.”  According to Matthew’s account of this same incident Jesus then said: "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17) Jesus rightly credits the revelation of good not to Peter himself, but rather to the true source of all that is good, God the Father. James 1:17 says:   Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.    The good in people, even in those who do not believe in God still comes from the fact that God created man in His own image and likeness. On the other hand when Peter spoke contrary to Jesus and was in opposition to God’s will, Jesus said: “Get behind Me satan.” Jesus recognized that Peter’s opposition to the will of God, like the revelation that Jesus is the Christ was not a flesh and blood thing.

When we battle with darkness, with false teaching and deception we too should remember that: our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12) Just as Jesus did not criticize or condemn Peter and attack him or degrade him personally but rather addressed the one who was behind Peter’s action, we too should not engage in attacking, criticizing and condemning others, other who after all are made in God’s image. I am not suggesting that we go around saying get behind me satan when we disagree with others. That probably would not end well. The Ephesians verse which recognizes the source of our true struggle and battle is about spiritual warfare. We need to separate people, created in God’s image, from their evil actions and words, which are inspired by world forces of this darkness, spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  

This doesn’t mean that we excuse people completely from their responsibility for their actions as if they had no choice or control of what they do or say. God created us, every one of us with a free will, an ability to choose what we believe, what we say and what we do. People are still fully responsible for their actions and will have consequences for their words and actions both in the natural physical realm and in the spiritual realm. But for ourselves, if we are setting our minds on God’s interests, not on man’s, then our desire should be not that we win a debate or an encounter in the physical realm, but that we win others to God. The revelation that Jesus is the Christ will not come from our convincing words and it surely won’t come from our critical or condemning words. The revelation that Jesus is the Christ comes from the Father in heaven, through the Holy Spirit. If we want to be part of doing God’s will, winning spiritual battles for the souls of people we should engage the enemy of their soul in the spiritual realm through prayer and intercession.

In Romans 12:9-21, Paul gives us advice, instruction on how to relate to both the good and the evil we encounter.         Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; ¹¹ not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; ¹² rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, ¹³ contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. ¹⁷ Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. ¹⁹ Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

We are not to excuse, embrace or even tolerate evil, we are to abhor evil and cling to what is good. Every person is created in the image and likeness of God. We need to seek to see and cling to the good, the image of God in others, all the while abhorring what is evil. We are to bless those who persecute us; bless and do not curse. When we engage others, fighting our battles here, with them, we become overcome by evil. Rather than lower ourselves to the fight and struggle here we should take our fight higher, to the heavenly realm, using the authority we have in and through Christ. We should  not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

In the end of today’s text Jesus says: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. ³⁵ For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. We do not take up a cross of suffering and disgrace. Jesus bore all the suffering and the disgrace for us, once for all. The cross we take up is a cross of daily denial of self, it is losing our lives for the sake of Christ and for the sake of the gospel. Jesus says we are to take up our cross and follow Him. If we are to follow Christ then we too will see that the good in people is from the Father in heaven and we will engage evil by recognizing that it is from the devil. We will love people, created in the image of God and we will abhor evil.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit only through You did I come to know and recognize that Jesus is the Christ, my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer. You saw the good that You created in me even when I was walking in darkness and evil. Help me to see and to respond to others as You see and respond to me. Thank You for the authority You have given in the spiritual realm, lead me and empower me to battle evil there and here in this earthly realm to overcome evil with good. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.