Sermons from St. Paul UMC

The Crucified King

Matthew 16:21-26 (NRSVue)

Peter had just called Jesus the Messiah, the Son of the living God. He got the answer right. Five verses later, Jesus calls him Satan, and most of us have never known quite what to do with that. But something happens between those two moments that changes everything, and it hides in a phrase that shows up twice in a row. Jesus tells Peter to get behind him. Then he turns to all of them and says that anyone who wants to come after him must take up a cross. In Greek, those are the same words. The rebuke and the invitation put a person in exactly the same place. In the final message of our series through Matthew 14 to 16, Pastor Dylan Ward asks what it actually costs to mean it when we call Jesus Lord, and why the answer is better news than it first sounds.

Preached by Rev. Dylan Ward | August 30, 2026