The Father's plan (Matthew 16)

“Watch out and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

“You of little faith! Why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you collected? Or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many large baskets you collected? Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?” Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the yeast in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

The religious leaders of the time demanded signs whilst the signs were happening around them. Our Lord asks how can they see weather patterns but not see the signs of the Father in Him and all that was happening. In arrogance they elevated themselves but the Lord humbled Himself. Their self-importance blinded them.

They were more concerned about what they wanted to happen.

Even the people following our Lord at the time started to be influenced by the teachers of the time. They started disregarding what had happened and the Lord had to remind them. Don’t you know that the Father provides for you?

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”
And Jesus responded, “Simon son of Jonah, you are blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father in heaven.

“Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s.”

The Father reveals to Peter who the Lord is, the Messiah the Son of the Living God but when our Lord starts telling them about His death Peter says it cannot be so.

If indeed you are the Messiah then no one should be able to kill you was what Peter was saying. Its not that different from the Pharisees for they say if you are the Son of God then you should not hang with sinners, you would not be born a carpenters son, you would obey the laws like we are even the ones we thought should be added.

But our Lord came to fulfill the Father’s plan, not to fit in or live up to anyone expectation. He came to set us free and that plan required that He go to those in in despair and give them hope and that plan required that He would give up His life for us.

“If anyone wants to come with Me, he must 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. What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will reward each according to what he has done. I assure you: There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

We are also called to live for the Father's plan and that give up our lives, the right to demand what our lives should be like. We are called to live for the Father’s plan.