Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 16:22

"And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee." — Matthew 16:22 (ASV)

The margin reads, "Pity thyself, Lord," as though Peter meant to say, "God grant, of His infinite mercy, that this may not be true!"

"How can it be that one such as You are should die?" He probably thought that Christ's death would be the end of His kingdom, the ruin of all His people's hopes, the quenching of the light of Israel; so, in his zeal for His Master's cause, he cried, "This shall not be unto thee."

Peter could not be trusted as steward or major-domo. He takes too much upon himself. See, how great he is! He half fancies that he is the master.

He loved his Lord so well that he could not bear to hear of His being killed and would gladly stop Him from talking about a subject so terribly sad. He thinks the Lord is morbid and is attaching more importance to the opposition of the Pharisees than it deserves.

Therefore, he gets the Lord alone and chides Him. The words are very strong: “Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.” He meant to be his Lord’s candid friend and at the same time to maintain towards Him that respectful bearing which would be fitting for His follower, but evidently he took too much on himself when he ventured to rebuke his Lord.

He could see in our Lord’s death nothing but ruin to the cause and therefore felt it must not be. He implored the mercy of heaven to forbid so dire a catastrophe. “Be it far from thee, Lord.” It must not, cannot happen as Jesus had prophesied.

“This shall not be unto thee.” He would even drive such an idea out of our Lord’s mind. Should we not have done the same, had we been there, if we had been as much concerned for the honor of our Lord as Peter was? Should we not have been horror-stricken at the idea that one such as He should be put to a cruel death? Might we not have vowed with great earnestness, “This shall not be unto thee”?