Get Behind Me: Following Jesus Through the Cross

Aug 30, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Get Behind Me: The Invitation to Follow

Peter stepped in front of Jesus, rebuking Him for embracing the cross. Jesus’ sharp command—“Get behind me”—is not rejection but redirection. To stand behind Christ is to surrender the need to control outcomes, trusting His path even when it leads through suffering. Disciples are called not to advise, lead, or critique, but to follow where He has already walked. The road may be unclear, but the One ahead holds both cross and resurrection. [37:03]

“From then on Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, ‘Oh no, Lord! This will never happen to you!’ Jesus turned and told Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.’” (Matthew 16:21-23, CSB)

Reflection: Where have you positioned yourself in front of Jesus this week, insisting He follow your plans? What would it look like to step behind Him today?

Day 2: Naming the Thorn: God’s Power in Weakness

Paul pleaded for his thorn to be removed, yet God’s answer transformed his understanding of strength. Suffering is not sanitized or celebrated, but named honestly as hardship. In weakness, Christ’s power finds its purpose—not by eliminating pain, but by sustaining grace within it. To call a thorn a thorn is the theology of the cross: acknowledging brokenness while clinging to the God who enters it. His “no” to relief can be His “yes” to deeper dependence. [38:04]

“Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, CSB)

Reflection: What “thorn” have you begged God to remove? How might His grace be sufficient there, even if the answer isn’t relief?

Day 3: Drowned and Raised: Baptism’s Daily Call

Baptism drowns the old self—the part that demands control, resists surrender, and fears suffering. Rising with Christ means daily dying to the illusion that safety is found in self-preservation. Like Peter, believers often claw back what was buried, trying to steer God’s plans. Baptism’s waters remind us: life is found not in leading, but in being joined to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Here, the map is surrendered, and the road becomes His. [50:15]

“Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4, CSB)

Reflection: What part of your “old self” keeps resurfacing, demanding control? How can baptism’s promise drown that impulse today?

Day 4: Friday’s Cross, Sunday’s Dawn

On Friday, hope seems buried; by Sunday, death is undone. Jesus’ prediction of resurrection was drowned out by Peter’s fear of the cross. For those in seasons of waiting, God’s silence does not mean His absence. He works beyond what eyes can see, carrying Friday’s grief toward Sunday’s joy. The road may wind through shadows, but the risen Christ walks ahead, holding both sorrow and victory. [52:01]

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25, CSB)

Reflection: What current “Friday” in your life needs the hope of “Sunday”? How does Christ’s resurrection speak into that darkness?

Day 5: Resurrection’s Final Word

Death’s sting lies broken. What sin meant for evil, God redeems for life. The resurrection does not erase present pain but anchors hope in Christ’s ultimate triumph. Every burden, every unanswered prayer, every thorn finds its end in His victory. To follow behind Jesus is to walk a road that passes through the cross but arrives at empty tombs. Here, suffering is real—but so is the promise that morning always comes. [54:47]

“When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57, CSB)

Reflection: How does the certainty of resurrection reshape the way you carry today’s burdens? Where can you declare “death has no victory” right now?

Sermon Summary

Matthew places Peter’s great confession right beside Peter’s great misunderstanding. Peter names Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” yet Peter cannot accept the kind of Christ Jesus says he must be. Jesus must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and rise on the third day. Peter hears the cross, but he misses the resurrection.

Peter’s rebuke reveals the deeper temptation: Peter wants Jesus, but Peter wants Jesus to follow Peter’s plan. Peter wants a Messiah of power, victory, safety, and earthly glory, with no room for betrayal, suffering, or death. Jesus answers with hard words, “Get behind me, Satan,” because Peter has stepped in front of Jesus and tried to show Jesus the way.

Jesus’ command, “Get behind me,” is also a gracious invitation. A disciple belongs behind Jesus, not in front of him drawing the map, not beside him advising him, and not safely on the sidelines. Jesus calls Peter back to the place of faith: following the Savior who knows the road, even when that road passes through the cross.

The theology of glory expects God’s goodness to appear as immediate success, comfort, strength, and relief from suffering. The theology of the cross calls a thing what it actually is. Cancer is not good. Grief stinks. Betrayal hurts. Abuse is wrong. Death is an enemy. The cross does not require Christians to smile over pain, call darkness light, or offer easy explanations for terrible sorrow.

Christ’s cross reveals God’s heart where human eyes least expect to find it. Jesus’ weakness is God’s strength. Jesus’ apparent defeat is the defeat of sin. Jesus’ cry, “It is finished,” declares that salvation has been accomplished, completed, and fulfilled. Friday looks final only until the risen Christ makes Sunday known.

Christ sometimes stills the storm, heals the sickness, opens the door, or removes the burden. Christ also sometimes sustains his people in the middle of the storm. Paul’s thorn remained, but Christ answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God’s answer may change circumstances, or God may work through circumstances to change and sustain his children.

Jesus does not send Peter away. Jesus restores Peter to the proper place of a disciple. Self-denial does not mean self-hatred or earning favor through suffering. Self-denial means surrendering the claim to be one’s own lord and trusting the Savior whose pierced hands hold every purchased life.

Jesus leads his people through roads they would never choose, but Jesus never leads them where he has not gone first. The cross is not the end. Christ is risen, and where Jesus leads, resurrection has the final word.

Key Takeaways

1. Get behind Jesus, not ahead Jesus confronts the desire to make him serve human expectations. Peter’s error was not loving Jesus too much, but trying to control what faithfulness had to look like. Discipleship begins when a believer stops demanding the map and trusts the Savior walking ahead. [37:03]
2. The cross calls evil evil The theology of the cross does not baptize pain with shallow explanations. Suffering hurts, death is an enemy, and evil remains evil. Christ’s presence in suffering gives hope without requiring anyone to pretend that darkness is light. [39:36]
3. God’s grace meets real weakness Paul’s unanswered request did not mean that God had ignored him. Christ chose to display power by sustaining Paul beneath the burden rather than immediately taking it away. God’s sufficient grace often appears not as escape from weakness, but as strength given within it. [44:49]
4. Suffering does not mean abandonment The cross reveals that God’s love is not measured by easy circumstances. Jesus’ pierced hands prove that he is neither indifferent nor absent in pain. God’s people may not know why sorrow has come, but they can know the heart of the One holding them. [46:44]
5. Friday never has the final word Peter saw suffering and missed the promised resurrection. Christ sees the whole road when his people can only see the darkness of Friday. The risen Jesus turns apparent endings into the place where God’s saving victory becomes known.

## [51:40]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[29:09] - Jesus’ Memorable Works in Matthew
[30:19] - Hard Words and a Gracious Invitation
[31:06] - Jesus Foretells His Cross
[31:42] - Peter the Rock Becomes a Stumbling Block
[34:30] - When Believers Want Jesus to Follow Their Plan
[37:03] - Get Behind Jesus
[38:04] - Theology of Glory and Theology of the Cross
[41:00] - The Cross Reveals God’s Saving Heart
[43:30] - Trusting God Without Controlling God
[44:20] - Paul’s Thorn and Sufficient Grace
[46:23] - Weeping Without Easy Answers
[47:36] - Jesus Restores Peter to Discipleship
[49:35] - Come and Die: Baptism and Self-Denial
[51:40] - Friday, Sunday, and Resurrection Hope
[53:52] - Christ Never Leaves His Purchased People

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 16:21–23
From then on Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “Oh no, Lord! This will never happen to you!” Jesus turned and told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.” [31:16]

2 Corinthians 12:7–9
Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” [44:44]

Matthew 16:24–25
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.” [51:05]

Observation questions

What four events does Jesus say must happen to him in Matthew 16:21, and which part of his words seems to capture Peter’s attention most strongly? [33:01]
What does Peter do after Jesus predicts his suffering and death, and what reason does Jesus give for calling Peter a hindrance?
In 2 Corinthians 12, how many times does Paul plead for the thorn to leave, and what answer does Christ give instead? [44:13]
According to Matthew 16:24–25, what actions does Jesus connect with following him, and what surprising contrast does he make between saving and losing one’s life? [48:32]

Interpretation questions

Peter correctly calls Jesus “the Christ,” yet he rebukes Jesus for speaking about the cross. What does this show about the difference between believing true things about Jesus and accepting the way Jesus chooses to save and lead his people? [33:18]
Jesus tells Peter, “Get behind me.” How can those hard words also be understood as an invitation to return to the proper place of a disciple rather than a command to leave Jesus? [47:53]
Paul’s thorn was not removed, but Christ’s grace sustained him. How does this passage challenge the idea that God’s love or power must always appear through immediate relief and changed circumstances? [45:08]
Jesus calls his followers to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. What does self-denial mean when it is rooted in Christ’s saving work rather than in self-hatred, earning God’s favor, or trying to control life? [48:36]

Application questions

Where might a person be tempted to ask Jesus to follow his or her plan—for health, family, work, finances, a relationship, or the future? What would it look like to ask boldly for help while leaving the answer in Jesus’ hands? [43:29]
Is there a burden, unanswered prayer, or painful circumstance that has made it difficult to trust God’s goodness? How can Christ’s cross speak more clearly than present circumstances in that place? [46:52]
When someone is grieving or suffering, what are some unhelpful explanations Christians may be tempted to offer? What could it look like instead to “weep with those who weep” and point gently to the love of Christ? [46:23]
What might “getting behind Jesus” look like in one specific area where control is especially hard to surrender? Is there a decision, fear, expectation, or timeline that needs to be placed back in his hands? [37:15]
Christ sometimes removes suffering and sometimes sustains his people within it. When have you seen God provide strength, endurance, comfort, or faithful people in the middle of a hardship rather than removing it right away? [43:48]
Jesus says that whoever loses life for his sake will find it. What are some everyday ways a person tries to “save” life through self-protection, control, comfort, or approval? What would trusting Jesus with that area look like this week? [50:42]
When Friday feels dark and Sunday seems impossible to imagine, what promises about Christ’s death and resurrection can help a believer keep following him one day at a time? [51:54]

Sermon Clips

41s

#CrossMeansLove

“But I do know this, I do know what the cross tells me. The cross tells me that suffering does not mean God does not love you. The cross tells me that suffering does not mean Christ has abandoned you or he's indifferent to your pain or that that evil will have the last word. We may not know what God is doing in the moment, but we know his heart toward us because we've seen that heart opened on the cross. Because the hands that hold your life now were the hands that were pierced for that life as well.”

35s

#LeaderWithScars

“Get behind him because the one who leads you is good. The one who leads you bears the scars of his love even now in heaven. Get behind him because his cross has paid for every sin. His resurrection has defeated death and he held Peter above the waves, he welcomed the desperate woman at his feet, he built his church out of broken stones and refused to turn away from the cross where he would redeem them and us all.”

40s

#TrustDontControl

“But don't confuse trusting God with requiring God to follow your plan. Let me say that again. Don't confuse trusting with requiring God to follow your plan. Sometimes Jesus shows his power by stilling the storm and removing the suffering. And sometimes, he shows his power by sustaining his people in the middle of the storm. The apostle Paul knows a lot about that.”

32s

#GetBehindInSuffering

“When you cannot understand his ways, get behind him. When your prayers are answered differently than you hoped, get behind him. When a theology of glory attempts to whisper, God, if he loved you, this wouldn't be happening. Look to the cross and get behind him. When your strength fails, get behind him. When the way passes through suffering, get behind him.”

37s

#LetJesusLead

“So, get behind him. Let Jesus go ahead of you. He's not asking you to go anywhere he has not gone first. The road may include places you would never choose. It may include burdens you have asked him to remove. It may include prayers that are answered differently than you expected. It may include seasons where his work is hidden and his silence seems almost unbearable. But the savior walks ahead of you. So get behind him.”

36s

#GodEntersSuffering

“The theology of the cross does not offer an easy explanation for for every sorrow. It doesn't pretend that God's hidden purpose is behind every tragedy and evil in this world. It does not speak where God has not clearly spoken because the place where God most clearly speaks and reveals himself is at the cross. And the cross tells us God doesn't avoid suffering, but he actually enters into it and bears it himself.”

59s

#LiveYourBaptism

“Where that old Adam, that sinful self with his insistence upon control and self preservation was drowned and buried with Christ. And there you were joined to Christ's death and resurrection, where God placed his name on you and declared that that your life belonged to him. It's something that happened once in baptism, but every day we find that old Adam wanting to climb back in front of Jesus, wanting to take the map and the wheel from Jesus' hands and to take control. And every day remembering that baptism, living in that baptism reminds me, invites us to get behind Jesus. To die to the illusion we can save ourselves. To die to the demand that God would explain all his ways to you. To die to the belief that God's goodness must be proved by our circumstances. To die and rise in Christ.”

42s

#RestoredToFollow

“Those words confront our desire for control. They call us to repentance for trying to create a Jesus who serves our plans, protects our comfort, and conforms himself to our expectations. But those words are also words of comfort because Jesus there in that moment doesn't tell Peter, go away from me. He doesn't tell Peter, you're out. He just puts Peter back where he belongs, following Jesus. He doesn't disregard him, he restores him to the proper place of a disciple.”

50s

#CallSufferingByName

“The theology of glory eventually fails because Jesus has not that of glory but that of a cross. The theology of the cross. Luther wrote famously in his Heidelberg Disputation in 1518 that we must understand the things of God through suffering and the cross. A theology of glory will do things like calling evil good and good evil. A theology of the cross calls a thing what it actually is. It calls suffering what it actually is. Cancer is not good. Grief stinks, betrayal hurts, abuse is wrong, sin is bad, death is not good.”

40s

#HonestAboutSuffering

“Our Christian faith doesn't require us to to pace to smile over pain or pretend that evil is somehow secretly pleasant. We don't have to call darkness light. We don't have to call a grieving mother that she should be happy. We do not tell the suffering Christian that that maybe his if his faith were stronger, the pain would disappear. A theology of the cross calls a thing what it actually is. Sin is evil. Death is in heavenly. Suffering hurts. Life is terribly unfair. We pray and sometimes we cannot understand the answer.”

36s

#DontDefineGodsAnswer

“The problem comes not when we ask, the problem comes when we've already decided what God's answer must look like. See, Peter's problem is is not that he wants Jesus to be safe. His problem is he's already decided what God's faithfulness involves. If you truly are the Christ, the son of the living God, this suffering, this arrest, this betrayal, this death must not happen.”

43s

#DiscipleBehindJesus

“Those words have always been there in that passage. But I think it's that phrase, get behind me Satan, that jumps out so sharply to me that I missed that first invitation and that command of Jesus to Peter. Because behind Jesus is exactly where a disciple belongs. Not in front of him, drawing the roadmap, figuring out the way to get there. Not besides him, advising him on the way to go. Not standing safely on the sidelines either thinking, well, we'll see how this all plays out whether I get in line or not. But behind Jesus, following where he leads,”

36s

#DontControlTheMessiah

“Peter, in this moment, isn't denying Christ. Instead, he's trying to tell Jesus what kind of what kind of Christ he should be. Peter wants Jesus, but he wants Jesus to follow follow Peter's plan. A plan that says, you're never gonna suffer. Dying, that's not a part of it. So much so that that sharp review comes from Jesus's mouth where he says to him, get behind me Satan. You are a hindrance to me. The rock becomes the stumbling block.”

46s

#FaithIsntFairness

“And there's the temptation for us as well. A temptation that sometimes comes into our hearts and our minds that if we think about it for too long and say, begin to, you know, fall into this trap and thinking that that if God is for me, if God is with me, then why isn't my life easier? If God loves me, why won't this pain go away? Do I need to believe more? Do I need to behave better? Will that get God to answer my prayer in the way that I want? If Jesus is the Christ, suffering must mean something has gone terribly wrong in my life.”

46s

#GloryVsCross

“There's an important theological teaching going on here that's understanding the difference between what we call the theology of glory and a theology of the cross. A theology of glory isn't saying God is glorious, which of course he is, but a theology of glory looks for God according to our own expectations as to how he should display his power and his victory in our lives now with immediate success and is completely dismissive of any suffering. Peter himself thinks in this moment that knowing Jesus is the Christ, the son of the God, therefore, because you're that messiah, the promised one, no suffering, no humiliation, no death.”

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St. Paul Lutheran Church Harlingen, Texas This sermon · AI assistant

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