Commentary on the Gospel of
Peter was reading Jesus from a human perspective. He failed to realize that Jesus had to carry the cross. His outlook of Jesus was the reflection of his own ideals and views on life and its meaning. He was unable to catch up with God’s perspective and divine thinking on matters of life and its meaning. Jesus made it clear that he ‘was destined’ to go to Jerusalem. It denotes a divine imperative with a theological meaning. It is the will of God that it is going to happen because it is part of God’s plan of salvation. Bible has the history of every unsettling prophet removed from the midst of a stubborn people. But the Gospel insists that the death of Jesus is the part of God’s plan, which Jesus accepted freely. It is this plan that Peter failed to understand. It is to this God’s design that he showed resistance.
Peter needed time and had to go through a series of experience before he understood God’s perspectives. Anyone who understands well the mystery of Jesus and the nature of his mission also understands what it means to be his disciple. It is to renounce the focus on oneself and to shift the same on God and others. This implies an acceptance of adversity and putting up with difficulties patiently. What is needed is to just to imitate him. Jesus never compromised His fidelity to the Father and to His Mission, and he remained faithful even to the point of giving up his life. In this way Jesus reveals God’s perspective of life and its mission.
