Week 25: The Turning Point
Week 25: The Turning Point
When we considered the temptations of Jesus, we saw that they were all attempts to persuade him to follow the way of popular acclaim and to deflect him from the way of the cross. The same temptation to disobedience and compromise dogged his footsteps.
It is this that explains Jesus’s almost fierce command to people to keep silent about the miracles they had seen. It was what is called the “messianic secret.” Jesus did not want people to know the fact of his messiahship until they were ready to grasp its nature.
But this week we come to the significant occasion when Peter for the first time made an explicit confession of Jesus as Messiah and then came to grasp—after protest—the necessity of the cross. It was the turning point in Jesus’s ministry.
Sunday: Peter’s Confession
Monday: The Necessity of the Cross
Tuesday: Taking Up the Cross
Wednesday: Finding Ourselves
Thursday: The Transfiguration
Friday: The Ransom Saying
Saturday: Greatness in the Kingdom of God