Last week, we heard about how Peter was the disciple who got it. Jesus asked who they believed him to be and Peter got the answer right by saying, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus praised Peter for his answer that was given to him by God.

What a contrast we have between this week and last week. This week, as we read further, we have Jesus calling Peter Satan. Instead of the glorious words of praise that were offered last week, praising Peter for the gift he had received from God, we get Peter being called Satan. One could almost get whiplash with this change.

However, when we look at what Jesus has just been talking about, maybe we can understand Peter’s words. In this passage, Jesus makes his first predictions about what is about to happen to him. Slowly but surely, Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem. It is in this passage that he tells his disciples what awaits him there.

Peter had just understood who Jesus is – the Messiah. In Peter’s mind he must have had this idea of what the Messiah would be like and what he would do. The Messiah was to be the one who would liberate the people from their oppression. Logically, Peter, along with many others, thought the Messiah would have to defeat the oppressors in battle in order to be victorious. But then Jesus talks about having to suffer and die – what kind of Messiah was he going to be? How could he possibly liberate the people if he were just to go and die?

So Peter begins to look for another way. Surely there has to be another way that Jesus could be the Messiah without having to suffer and die. But you see Peter got so caught up in the first part of Jesus’ sentence that he missed the end. How many times have we reacted to the first part of what someone is saying without hearing them through to the end? If Peter had waited to hear the end of the sentence, he would have heard that indeed, Jesus was going to be a different type of Messiah than the one he had expected. He was going to suffer and die and on the third day be raised. On the third day be raised. Peter got so caught up in the suffering and dying that he didn’t hear about the resurrection.

Jesus goes on to teach his disciples about what will be required of them if they plan to continue to follow him. They must take up their own cross – they must open themselves to be not the followers of a conquering hero but the followers of a Messiah who suffered, died, and - don’t forget the last part – rose from the dead.

But this way of being a Messiah seemed so upside down and backward. The people were expecting a king on a throne and they instead got a king on a cross. But from the very beginning, Jesus has been trying to show that he is going to be a different kind of Messiah. Instead of being born to royalty in a palace, he is born to an unwed young woman. Instead of gathering followers from the learned part of society, he picked a bunch of ordinary peasants to follow him. Jesus is not the Messiah the people were expecting.

Jesus then offers another part of what will happen to those who follow him. "For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." You’ve probably heard the phrase, "Finders keepers, losers weepers." Well as I have heard it said, Jesus seems to be saying instead, "Finders weepers, losers keepers."

Through this, Jesus continues his seemingly upside down and backward way of thinking. Jesus is preaching about a new way of being disciples. Since Jesus is going to be a different type of Messiah, he expects his disciples to adhere to a different type of discipleship.

Reading this passage reminded me of a scene in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone." Ron, Hermione, and Harry go through all sorts of obstacles to get to the Sorcerer’s Stone. One of the first ones they encounter is after they fall down a long drop they land on a nice soft plant. Thinking that this was a great place to land, they begin to try to get up. However, the plant begins to wrap around them. The more they struggle against the plant, the more entangled they become.

Finally, Hermione with her vast knowledge of herbology, realizes that they have landed on a great mass of Devil’s Snare. Devil’s Snare, as Hermione explains, is a plant that wraps itself around you tighter and tighter. The more you struggle, the more in entangles you. Hermione then remembers that the way to escape Devil’s Snare is to stop fighting it and relax.

So, as Hermione relaxes, the plant releases her and she falls safely through to the underside of the plant. She had to be willing to relax and stop struggling with the plant in order to get through it. Harry, having seen Hermione fall through the plant calls down to her to see if she is alright and then following the same plan he stops struggling with the plant. Sure enough, the plant releases him and he passes through safely to the other side.

The just leaves Ron. Having seen his two friends fall through the plant Ron freaks out and struggles all the more with the plant. This of course gets him even more entangled with it. Are we ever like Ron? Do we ever just want to keep struggling because to let go seems to not be an option?

Jesus talks about losing one’s life in order to find it. As part of my preparation for today, I read a sermon by Barbara Brown Taylor. In regards to this passage she said, "The deep secret of Jesus’ hard words to us in this passage is that our fear of suffering and death robs us of life, because fear of death always turns into fear of life, into a stingy, cautious way of living that is not really living at all."

Sometimes we keep struggling so hard to hold on to something that we don’t truly enjoy the gift we have been given. Growing up, I had friends who collected dolls. I would go over to her house and there lined up on her shelf there would be beautiful dolls still in their packages. I didn’t understand why she wouldn’t want to open these packages up and play with the dolls. It was explained to me that the dolls lose their value if they aren’t in their package. But, I thought, you can’t play with them and enjoy them if they’re all wrapped up like that.

Do we ever treat the gift of life that God has given up like that? We have been given this amazing gift of life but sometimes we get so caught up in keeping it nice and neat that we trap ourselves in our own type of cellophane packages. But this isn’t the type of living that Jesus is calling his disciples to follow. If we try to keep ourselves all neat and clean, then we will miss out on so much of life. We have to be willing to let ourselves out there into the world where things aren’t always nice and neat. Jesus is asking his disciples to engage in risk. He wants them to risk being faithful to the gospel.

Throughout history we have seen what a risk following the gospel can be. There are many who have taken up their cross to follow Jesus and found that it lead them to their own death. What may be the risk that you are being called to? Would you risk being made fun of or laughed at by sharing your faith? Would you risk your popularity by helping the unpopular? Would you risk time with your family to help out others? What are you willing to risk?

With these types of demands made upon those who want to follow Christ, why would anyone want to do that? Why would anyone want to, as Christ said, take up their cross and follow him? Why would anyone want to follow a Messiah who went to suffer and die? Because of the last part – because on the third day he will be and was raised from the dead. It is because of the resurrection that we are empowered to exit our cellophane protective packaging and enter into the dirt and dust of the world. Because, unlike dolls all wrapped up in their original packaging, we do not lose our value if we step outside of the box. In fact, a life lived trapped in a prison of our own fear of living is one that loses its value and not the other way around.

Like Hermione and Harry, sometimes we have to stop struggling against the need to free ourselves and let go of the fear of being trapped. "For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." What are you struggling against? What fears have kept you from living the abundant life that Christ came to bring?