St. Peter must have gotten whiplash. First, Jesus praises him as receiving divine revelation and as the rock on which the Church would be built. Then a few minutes later, Jesus is calling him Satan and telling him to get out of his sight. “You are not thinking as God thinks,” says the Lord. What are God’s thoughts? Stephen Hawking wrote a book entitled A Brief History of Time with the stated intent of thinking God’s thoughts about the creation of the universe. Too complicated for me. But when we look at the life of Jesus we have ready access to the thoughts of God: love everyone good and bad alike, forgive those who hurt you, extend charity to those in need. Not too complicated.
