David Bahn – Reflections

Light from the Word and through the lens

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In 1968 Jerry Snell opened a door in the hallway outside our first hour chemistry class. He invited me into what I discovered was a darkroom. Soon I was on the school newspaper and annual staff as a photographer. Later I learned that Jerry was a Lutheran who was planning to become a pastor. A few years later I was not only a Lutheran, but I was heading off to seminary to become a Lutheran pastor, too. Jerry followed a year later and served as a pastor in Missouri until his untimely heart attack and death. I thank God for Jerry and enjoy photography still today – not to mention rejoicing in having served as a Lutheran pastor in congregations in Utah, Colorado, Arkansas and Texas. I’ve retired now and serve part time as a Congregational Support Specialist for the Texas District of the LCMS. I also provide coaching and leadership training through various PLI cohorts and with individual congregations and organizations. David Bahn is a follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Diane, father and grandfather. He is an avid amateur photographer. His photo website is “Flowers by God Photos by David” He also publishes a devotional blog DavidBahn-Reflections.com. He and Diane live in Cypress Texas and enjoy visiting their grandchildren who live in the United States and Germany. He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in 1979, and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1991. Diane, his wife, is now retired from PLI (PLIleadership.org). They have offered presentations on Marriage and Ministry Partnership, Leadership, Changing Your Congregation’s Culture, and Missional Living. They look are working with PLI International training pastors and wives of the ELVD Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Tanzania. David’s personal mission statement is “Leading people to realize Jesus’ calling and plans for their lives.”

Fighting Words

Jesus didn’t make it a habit of calling people names. But he would on occasion call people names: “Rock Man” (Peter), Elijah (of John the Baptist), as well as “whitewashed tombs,” or in this case, “Satan.”

Red Berries
These berries remind me of when John the Baptist said, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance." In other words, if you have repented from your sins, let it show in how you live.

Matthew 16:21-28

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23But he turned and said to Peter,  “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

It may seem harsh for Jesus to have called Peter, “Satan.” But consider what is at stake. The salvation of the whole world hangs on Jesus’ faithfulness to God, and willingness to die for the sins of the world. And just as Satan had tempted Jesus to follow him in the wilderness (stones to bread, jumping from the temple, etc.), now Peter was tempting Jesus to forgo the cross. This truly was a Satan-inspired idea.

Few of us would say out loud what Peter manages to blurt out. But we must admit, we have many of the same thoughts. I don’t always realize how desperately I need a Savior who was as brutally treated, tormented and abandoned by God as Jesus was. I’m not sure I would have thought differently than he did upon hearing that Jesus would suffer, die and be buried, and on the third day be raised from the dead.

But being called Satan? Them’s fighting words! Unless you are willing to examine your heart and see that Jesus truly was tempted by Peter’s rebuke. Unless we recognize our desperate need for a Savior. Unless we are willing to trust in the wounds of our friend Jesus (cf. Proverbs 27:6).

To have our minds set on the things of God will lead us to places we would otherwise never go. But to think otherwise will lead only to destruction, death and eternal loss. Thank God we always have the opportunity to repent and believe the Good News of salvation and abundant life in Jesus!

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