During the weeks before this November’s mid-term elections, persons seeking public office are working hard to win over voters. The key person in any candidate’s run for office is the campaign manager.

 

The campaign manager directs the overall strategy of the campaign, supervises the staff and volunteers, arranges interviews, responds to questions from the press, reviews campaign ads, oversees posts on social media, organizes rallies, and makes certain the candidate stays on message.

 

Imagine you were the campaign manager for a candidate who was ahead in the polls. The candidate was saying and doing all the right things. You were certain you were working for a winner and confident you would have an important role in a future administration.

 

But during a campaign rally, your candidate suddenly declared, “I think I’m going to lose. I’ll be defeated on election day!” You would be shocked and dumbfounded.

 

This example might help us to understand how Peter may have felt after what happened in this Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 16:21-27).

 

In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus had confirmed Peter’s insight that he was “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then told Peter that he would be the rock upon which Jesus would build his church.

 

Jesus ordered his disciples not to reveal who he was. But Peter knew that when the identity of Jesus was revealed, Jesus would be acclaimed by the people as their long-awaited Messiah. Jesus would be “elected.”

 

But, as we read in this Sunday’s Gospel, “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

 

Obviously, Peter was stunned. Peter had no idea what Jesus meant about being raised on the third day. All Peter knew was that Jesus was conveying the wrong message.

 

“Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, ‘God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.’” Peter saw his expectations for Jesus come crashing down. Rather than speaking of victory, Jesus was speaking of defeat, suffering, and rejection.

 

In response to Peter’s anger and confusion, Jesus told him, “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

 

Peter saw success as winning, overcoming opposition, and gaining power and prestige. He was judging success by the criteria of the world.

 

However, Jesus saw success very differently. Successful people were those, who like Jesus himself, made their decisions and determined their actions according to what was the will of God. That is what Jesus meant by taking up our cross and following him, following his example.

 

The winners in the upcoming elections will be those who get the greatest number of votes. However, the true winners in this world will be those who do their best to fulfill the will of God during their lives! As Jesus told his disciples, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”

 

© 2026 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski