Pivot points and hard truths. Matthew 16.

The pivot point of each of the first three gospels is Peter's confession of Jesus' identity - "you are the Messiah." From that moment on, Jesus changes the nature and content of His teaching to include what will happen to Him, and sets His face toward Jerusalem. "From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." (Matthew 16:21 NET)

That's a hard truth to comprehend, and Peter doesn't. Almost immediately after his confession that Jesus is Messiah, Peter demonstrates his total misunderstanding of what that means, by denying Jesus' authority when He describes what will take place. Peter is unable to put aside his own conception of what the Messiah is supposed to be, and listen to the guy who is Messiah. Couple that with his love of Jesus, and it makes sense that this was a hard truth that he wanted to deny. Who wouldn't?

Jesus then teaches another hard truth -- following Him means putting aside our own ambitions and picking up a cross to follow. To any person of the time, the cross means humiliation, shame, agony, and death. Jesus explains how this truth works by adding: "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." At least that is somewhat promising.

Jesus' next words are a continued explanation of what He has been saying, but I want to treat them as a separate hard truth. "For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life?"

While these words come from Jesus, the truth contained in them isn't particularly tied to being a Christian or following Him. They are a hard truth of life. We see this truth demonstrated every day in the broken lives of celebrity, in the bitter divorce of people who were committed to values outside their marriage, in the relentless pursuit of more toys, in the faces of drivers in the morning commute.

The recognition of the reality of this hard truth is a pivot point too. When the moment arrives in which a person has to look really hard at the sum of their life, they are most open to understanding the message of Messiah, to recognizing who Jesus really is. He understood this truth. He knew of the emptiness in a life lived for self only. He taught it. In the midst of any crisis, we need to remember this truth, too. Whether it's so we can share it with someone else, or be reminded that we have given our lives to the greatest cause, the greatest One.

Peace.