Keys

My wife and I went out to dinner with relatives one evening, and as we walked out the front door they decided to drive instead of us. While at the restaurant I realized I didn't have my car keys with me, but relaxed when I remembered putting them next to me on the back seat after getting into their car. That was the last time I thought about my keys until the next morning. Unfortunately, after looking in the back seat of their car and not finding them, they insisted that they couldn't possibly be there. Luckily, about a year later they were surpised to discover my keys under the back seat of their car, and I got them back.

Peter was given a set of keys too, and like me he lost them for awhile. Jesus was asking the disciples, "Who do you say that I am", and Peter confidently declared that Jesus was, "The Messiah, the Son of the living God". Jesus responed by saying, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church". He went on to say, "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven". After strictly ordering his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah, Jesus began to show them that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly. Obviously this was difficult for the desciples to understand, and it wasn't too long before Jesus had to rebuke Peter with the words, "Get behind me Satan! You are an obstacle to me."

Imagine how this must have made Jesus feel. He's accutely aware of the painful end that awaits him in Jerusalem, but it also reminds him of his begining. Shortly after his baptism, He was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. The subtle and not so subtle temptations of Jesus were an attempt to turn Him away from obediance to his Father, and here again in the person of his trusted friend Peter, the devil was trying to keep him from fulfilling his mission. Only Jesus' love for us could have prevailed at this time, protecting him from dissapointment. It took time for Peter, and the other desciples, to understand that the Son of Man would be raised from the dead. It was only in the light of Jesus' resurrection that Peter, and in turn each of us, fully understand the meaning of Jesus' life and mission.