It’s not always easy to follow the way of the Lord. The message of both Old and New Testaments is that God loves us and wants our well-being. Jesus continually tells us not to be afraid and delivers a message of peace. But we know there will be challenges in our lives. And sometimes those challenges are even a result of being followers of the Lord.
Jeremiah shouts out with frustration at the results of his following God’s will, even as he recognizes he really doesn’t have a choice (Jer 20:7-9). There is something in him which compels him to do the work of the Lord, regardless of the consequences. Peter, who last week was given the keys to the Kingdom, is now berated by Jesus in the most extreme way (Mt 16:21-27). Whether he deserves it or not, it must have been hard to take. But like Jeremiah he is clearly so deeply invested in this relationship that he’s not going to walk away just because Jesus yells at him.
But when we listen to Jesus commenting on what just happened we need to be careful how we hear his words. It may sound like he’s offering some sort of deal. In return for denying ourselves, or “giving up our lives” we get something in return – some sort of new life. This sense of an exchange on offer is amplified by his description of a future return which seems to be about payback (good or bad).
But Jesus is not in the business of offering deals – if you do this (for me), then I’ll do something for you, and conversely if you don’t, then watch out, I’ll make you pay. Jesus’s message is categorically that God loves us unconditionally. The idea that God needs something from us is absurd. And while we may find it hard to break out of our childish notions of reward and punishment, that’s no basis for a relationship with anyone, let alone with our loving Father.
So if Jesus isn’t offering us a bargain, what is he telling us?
If we look for a different way to approach this, I suggest the key to what Jesus is saying lies in what Jeremiah tells us about himself (there’s a reason these readings are paired!).
Jesus isn’t offering a quid pro quo, he is explaining how a deep relationship with God works. Once we’re in that relationship we have no choice. Just as Jeremiah (and Peter) found, it’s not possible to turn away once you’ve found the perfect partner in life. In tough times, if you are tempted to walk away, your better self will tell you that that will only make things worse. Whatever you might think you might gain (even “the whole world”!) is not worth losing what you have, your relationship with God.
And the repayment is simply playing out that reality. Jesus isn’t threatening, or promising, anything. He’s just noting that in the end we have what we have. If we did throw it away, because we got so focused on ourselves to the exclusion of the other, then that is the greatest tragedy that can be imagined. Once again Peter should give us hope: however confused we may get, however badly we mess up, however much we may yell at God for what we are going through, if we only hold on to the reality of our relationship with God, if we stick with the knowledge that there is nothing more important, literally nothing more important, then all will be well.