Not Who They Expected

Mark 8:29-32

And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

.................

Mark 8 continues the itinerant healing ministry of Jesus and his followers, but also contains a couple important stories that reveal the confusion of the disciples.  The first, in verses 14-21, shows that the disciples could not understand even a simple metaphor and were more quick to think about their stomachs rather than the battle between truth and lies, between Jesus and the Pharisees.  Mark ends this passage with "Do you not understand?" - a scathing, unqualified critique of the disciples' obvious disconnect, despite how familiar they were with Jesus and his teaching.

The second story is related above and presents an even more scathing rebuke to Peter and the other disciples. The fact that Peter rebukes Jesus (who he truly believes is the Messiah) is absurd enough, but Mark inserts a little parenthetical statement that makes it even more ridiculous - "And he said this plainly."  Jesus was not being cryptic here or speaking in parables; he was making a clear prediction of how He would be rejected, killed, and raised from the dead.  Peter makes a willful decision to demand his own version of "Jesus," in place of this inconvenient self-description. "The Messiah can't be rejected and killed! He's the king of Israel. I'll set Jesus straight." Bad idea.

Jesus replies to Peter pretty harshly for at least two reasons.  One, Peter's rebuke was in front of others, so Jesus responds in kind, for the sake of Peter, but also for the sake of the other followers.  Peter's misconception had to be stopped before it spread, not unlike the "leaven" of the Pharisees he had recently warned them about.  But, more importantly, the second reason this rebuke was so harsh, was that Peter's denial here struck at the heart of the gospel itself, the very heart of the message of God's kingdom - namely, that God has arrived, not to condemn the world, but to lay down his life as a ransom for many.  The world didn't need another Alexander the Great or Caesar; the world needed someone to pay for the wages of human sin.  Only a divine savior could deal with the infinitely dark consequences of human rebellion and sin.  Only God in the flesh could rescue mankind, open the eyes of the blind, and miraculously give new hearts to a world that was so fallen.  And Peter didn't like it.

Let us be mindful that the gospel message continues to be a radical challenge to our common sense, both inside and outside the church.  People in the world are offended by the crucified Christ, insisting on their own goodness and resistant to anyone who tells them of their desperate need for a Savior.  People in the church continue to resist the cross-bearing nature of discipleship - the fact that Jesus didn't model an easy or convenient way to fix mankind. It will take blood. It will cost you your life.  I pray for myself, that I am careful not to resist the heart of the gospel, that I take up my cross today, whenever the opportunity arises, so that people will see God's determination to redeem a people for himself.

And let's not forget, it doesn't end with death:

...and after three days rise from the dead.