Mark 8:27-37 Jesus the Messiah
You are in the
hospital outpatients waiting room. One rather self important
individual is getting impatient. Unwilling to queue, they barge in and demand
to be seen by the doctor. “Don’t you know who I am?” Shouted
the man. The secretary calmly presses the button on the microphone of
her loudspeaker system and asks the waiting patients. “I have a gentleman here
who doesn’t know who he is. Can someone please assist him in finding out. Thank you.”
Who am I? The
world out there has plenty of ideas. Some would say I am who I was - quest for
our ancestors to help define us. Others insist I am what I achieve. For others
I am what I drive. Many believe I am how I look. In our community I am where I
live. For some I am what I eat. For many I am what I do. For some I am who I
love. For some I am what I know. For others I am who I know. For lots of
people I am what I possess. Many are trapped not knowing who they really are.
Who am I? You will never know who you are until you decide on Jesus. Because Jesus says, I am who I follow. Jesus is our eternal reference point - our
magnetic north pole - our compass - the way, the truth and the life. When we
find him, we find ourselves. Our passage today comprises three
paragraphs:
The Ultimate Question about Jesus (8:27-30)
The
Unambiguous Calling of Jesus (8:31-33)
The
Uncompromising Commission from Jesus (8:34-38)
1. The
Ultimate Question about Jesus (Mark 8:27-30)
“Jesus and his disciples went on to the
villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do
people say I am?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the
prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do
you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about
him.” (Mark 8:27-30)
The first half
of Mark’s gospel is designed to answer just one
question. Mark 1:1-8:26 answers the ultimate question Jesus poses in 8:27. Who am I? Having answered this first
question, Mark 8:27-16:20 goes on to answer a second question -
why did Jesus come? Only when we have answered the
first can we begin to understand the second. Mark 8:27-30 is therefore the highpoint - the
watershed of the gospel of Mark. If you were to go around asking your friends, “What do people
say about me?” Or “Who do you say I am?” they might take it as an evidence of
pride or dementia. But what we believe and say about Jesus Christ will determine our destiny. Your
answer is a matter of life or death.
The citizens of Caesarea Philippi might affirm, “Caesar is lord!” Such a confession might
identify them as loyal Roman citizens. But it would never save them from their sins or deal
with their eternal separation from God. Some thought Jesus was John the Baptist. Some said he was one
of the prophets, like Jeremiah. That is how Muslims typically view Jesus today. Twice this week I have spoken at
conferences where the majority of those present were Muslim. On Wednesday
evening I was picked up from the airport in Glasgow by two young Muslim students. Born and
raised in Glasgow they knew very little about Christianity.
The first question I was asked when I got in the car was could I please explain
the difference between Islam and Christianity. I gently explained that it all
had to do with who we think Jesus is.
In His words and His works, Jesus gave every evidence to the people that
He was the Son of God, the Messiah, and yet they did not get the message.
Earlier in chapter 8:1-12 we see Jesus feeding the 4000, just as God had fed the Israelites in the wilderness, yet like their ancesters
they still insisted on another sign from heaven. You can sense Jesus exasperation in verse 12, ‘He sighed
deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I
tell you the truth, no sign will be given to
it."’ Then in verses 8:14-21 Jesus asks the disciples a series of questions
about this and the earlier miracle of the feeding of the 5000. It seems in
frustration,
‘He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"’ (Mark 8:21). To the question “who do you say I am?”
Peter’s confession appears bold and
uncompromising, just as ours should be: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the
living God!” (Matt. 16:16) The word Messiah, or Christ as it is translated in Greek, means “the
Anointed One, the promised one.” Prophets, priests, and kings were all anointed
before they began to serve.
Jesus fulfilled all three roles. So why
does Jesus warn them to keep quiet about this? As
we see in the very next few verses the disciples themselves still had much to
learn about Him and what it truly meant to follow Him. The disciples would only
truly begin to understand what kind of Saviour Jesus was until after the cross and
resurrection. How much more so for the ordinary people
who flocked to hear Jesus. They were looking for a political
Messiah. The last thing Jesus wanted was to lead a revolution against the hated Roman authorities. The disciples needed to
know who Jesus claimed to be but they could not
proclaim it until they understood why Jesus had come.
So, the ultimate question is: Who do you say I am? Have you answered Jesus? The ultimate question
about Jesus (8:27-30).
2. The Unambiguous Calling of Jesus (8:31-33)
“He then
began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected
by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed
and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he
rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in
mind the things of God, but the things of men." (Mark 8:31-33)
Having
confessed their faith in Him, Jesus began to explain why he had come. He was going to Jerusalem where He would die on a cross as the
Passover lamb. This announcement stunned the disciples. If He is indeed the
Christ of God, as they had confessed, why would He be rejected by the religious
leaders? Why would they crucify Him?
Didn’t the Hebrew Scriptures promise that Messiah would defeat all their
enemies and establish a glorious kingdom for Israel? There was something wrong somewhere and
the disciples were confused. True to character, it was Peter who voiced their concern. One minute Peter was led by God to confess his faith in Jesus Christ, and the next minute he was thinking
like an unbeliever. Indeed expressing the thoughts of Satan. This is a warning to us that when we
argue with God’s Word, we open the door for Satan’s doubts and deceptions. Peter began rebuking his Master, and Mark uses the same word that describes how Jesus rebuked the demons.
Peter’s protest was born out of his love for
his Lord but also his ignorance of God’s word. One minute Peter was a “rock,” and the next minute he was
a stumbling block. Peter did not yet understand the relationship between suffering and
glory. When Jesus rebuked Peter, He looked at His disciples for they too needed to hear.
When we are tempted to try and mould Jesus into the kind of Jim will fix it kind of Messiah our
materialistic generation is seeking, we must hear this same rebuke. “The
Son of Man must suffer” said Jesus. He uniquely came to die in our place. To atone
for our wrong doing.
The
controversy over Mel Gibson’s new film “The Passion of the Christ” centres on whether it blames the Jews
for the death of Jesus and may incite anti-Semitism. Not so, says James Caviezel who plays Jesus. “We’re all culpable in the death of Christ”, he says, “My sins put him up there.
Yours did. That is what this story is about.” Mel Gibson was led to produce the film after a
rough stretch in his life. “The Holy Ghost was working through me in this film”
he said. The wounds of Christ
healed his wounds. This was Jesus unique calling.
The ultimate question about Jesus (8:27-30).
The unambiguous calling of Jesus (8:31-38).
3. The
Uncompromising Commission from Jesus (8:34-38)
‘Then he
called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone
would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for
me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole
world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's
glory with the holy angels."’ (Mark 8:34-38)
Jesus calls us to follow Him, to take up our
cross and follow him. The world doesn’t understand the cost of being a
Christ-follower. Because it doesn’t understand who Christ is it cannot understand what Christ has done for us. Mark 8:34 indicates that, though Jesus and His disciples had met in private,
the crowds were not far away. Jesus summons the people and teaches them what He has taught His own
disciples: there is a price to pay for
true discipleship.
3.1 We must
walk with Christ
“If anyone
would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
(Mark 8:34)
3.2 We must
sacrifice for Christ
“For whoever
wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for
the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35)
Jesus then asks two questions to crystalise
the issue.
Question 1: is about profit or loss (Mark
8:36)
Mark 8:36 What good is it
for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? The first question
asks us what we value most? Most people gain none of
the world, a few gain some of the world, but no one has ever gained the whole
world.
The world is full of temptations towards profitable dishonesty. George MacDonald tells of the draper who used his thumb to shorten
each yard measure of cloth by a few inches. In a life time he took from his
soul and put it in his pocket. Shakespeare paints the picture of Wolsey, the great Cardinal, who served Henry the Eighth, with all the ingenuity and wit he possessed, "Had I
but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age
have left me naked to mine enemies." The real question, the question
that everyone in the end will have to face is not, "What did people think
of me?", but "what does God think of me?"
Question 2: is about
fair exchange
Mark 8:37 Or what can a man
give in exchange for his soul?
Answer: Absolutely Nothing. One translation puts it "what can a man give
to buy back his life", the idea being that he has already lost it by
making a fatal choice. For the soul there is no equivalent. When it has once
been lost at death it cannot be relived or recovered. Time travels in one
direction. We never get a second go at it. Profit or loss?
Fair exchange? 2 Questions we must each answer for
ourselves.
We must walk
with Christ
We must
sacrifice for Christ
3.3 We must confess our Christ
“If anyone is
ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of
Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory” (Mark 8:38)
If we live for
ourselves, we will lose ourselves, but if we lose ourselves for His sake and
the Gospel’s, we will find ourselves. From the human point of view, we are
losing ourselves, but from the divine perspective, we are finding ourselves.
When we live for Christ, we become more like Him, and this
brings out our own unique individuality. We become the person God intended for
us. But note the motivation for true discipleship: “for me and for the
Gospel” (Mark 8:35).
To lose yourself for Jesus and for the gospel is not an act of
desperation; it is an act of devotion. James Caviezel was asked how he felt about playing Jesus. He replied, “I love him more than I
never knew possible. I love him more than my wife, my family. I don’t want
people to see me. All I want them to see is Jesus Christ.” Is that how you feel? Are you
ashamed of Jesus or honoured to
be associated with Jesus?
Who am I? It depends on what I make of Jesus. When we find him, we find
ourselves. Then we find that we are not an evolutionary accident. We are more
than our exam grades. More than a number, a grade, a class, a
rank, a status, a postcode, a space in the company car park, a seat in the
boardroom. We are what God says about us. That is really all that
matters. Who am I? If I have
received Jesus as my Lord and Saviour he is my brother. God becomes
not just my creator but my heavenly Father. “The difference between
Christianity and Islam,” I said, as we drove away from Glasgow airport, “is that the One you call Allah, I can call
Abba - Daddy, because of what Jesus has done
in our place.”
The Ultimate Question about Jesus (8:27-30)
The
Unambiguous Calling of Jesus (8:31-33)
The
Uncompromising Commission from Jesus (8:34-38)
Lets pray.