Our Weekly Thought – August 24 - August 30, 2020

After confessing that Jesus was the Messiah (Matthew 16:21-28), Peter began to back-track and tried to take Jesus aside and “educate” him into what a proper Messiah should do and be, without all that messy suffering and dying stuff. Jesus would have none of that. He reminded Peter and all his followers that the Messiah must undergo death in order to overcome it. Jesus willingly faced suffering and death so that we might not be afraid or ashamed in the face of death and any other life-wrenching trial. Instead, we are called to face hardships directly, and stand and serve with the oppressed and persecuted everywhere. No one other than Jesus asks this of us. So let us be; so let us go.