Matthew 16:21-23

Matthew 16:21-23
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Peter, here, knows a thing or two about organizational dynamics.  He wants to see the movement growing and spreading, and he sees the crowds that are following Jesus.  If the crowds are going to continue to grow, Jesus talking about his impending death isn't going to help momentum.  Everyone wants to focus on the positive!   
  But Christianity has always been intertwined with death.  It's part of who we are, and it's part of our story of life.  Our sin leads to death, and so we must face our own mortality.  Only Jesus can deliver us from eternal death, and so we must accept his gift of grace -- he has stepped in to accept the punishment, but we still must pass through death to reach the eternal life on the other side.  This is a giant leap of faith, but it is part of our story -- we worship a God that is greater than death, but we still pass through it.  We cannot simply deny that it is there, whistling past the graveyard in the hopes that we can ignore it.  No, let us embrace it in confidence, rather than shrink back in fear.  Your death need not terrify you, for God is greater than the grave, and love is stronger than death.