Matthew 16:21-23. Jesus begins telling his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and "suffer many things... and be killed, and on the third day be raised." Peter takes Jesus aside and says "God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you." But Jesus says to Peter "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men."

(An aside: Just yesterday I had a reading from Hosea in which he talked about us being raised up on the third day, and I wrote about how this is a reference to Jesus being raised on the third day, and us along with him. Today, I get a reference from Jesus himself about him being raised on the third day. Pattern recognition is definitely a large part of how God speaks (to me, at least)!)

I've always felt a bit sorry for Peter here. He takes a very understandable stand, begging Jesus not to allow himself to undergo the suffering and death that awaits him. Woudldn't we be tempted to that if a friend told us of the suffering they were about to willingly undergo? None of us want to see people we love suffer, and we do have the duty to help them in their times of suffering, but Peter, by asking Jesus to avoid his mission, is denying God's plan here.

We all have to suffer, it is part of life, and God allows us to suffer in just the ways and just as much as he, in his infinite wisdom, knows will achieve the most good, for ourselves and for others. If someone has discerned or seen the path they are called to walk, and it involves suffering of some kind, we are behaving like Satan if we try to talk them out of it. We are pulling them from the path of their salvation. This makes us not on the side of God, but of men, like Peter here - not seeing the world as God does, but as men do. Avoiding suffering at all costs is not a saintly way to live!

It is very very hard to let people we love take the narrow path and accept their sufferings, but we must, and we must walk with them on it. This path leads to salvation.