Identity

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Identity

Messianic     Anointed

Self-Questioning     Accepting     Confessing

You Are The Christ

Witness

(picture and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:   Mark 8:27 to 35

Jesus and his disciples were heading for the towns of Caesarea Philippi. As they were traveling, He asked His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"

The disciples replied, "John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets."

Jesus asked them, "What about you. Who do you say that I am?"

Peter replied, "You are the Christ."

Jesus warned them to keep this quiet.

Jesus then started to teach them that the Son of Man would experience a lot of suffering and undergo rejection from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes. He would be killed but then He would rise again on the third day. Jesus spoke very plainly about this.

Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him. Jesus turned towards His disciples and rebuked Peter saying, "Get behind me Satan. You are thinking as a human being and not following God's ways."

Jesus then called the crowd over with His disciples and said to them, "If you want to be my follower, you have to deny yourself, take up your cross, and then you can follow me. If you want to save your life, you will lose it. If you lose your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it."

Reflection

In our reading from Mark we find Jesus in a questioning mode. He wants to find out exactly where He stands with the disciples. He has been teaching them and performing many amazing miracles. He is wondering if the disciples have heard any comments from the crowd about who He really is.

The disciples have heard Jesus compared to some very special people. They mention John the Baptist, Elijah, and the prophets. Not too shabby! An All Star lineup!

From those responses you can see how the people are valuing Jesus. They know that someone special is in their midst.

When Jesus directs that same question to the disciples, Peter does not hesitate. He shows his faith in Jesus and his insight into the true identity of Jesus. He moves the response of the people to a much higher level. He proclaims that Jesus is the Christ---the Anointed, the Messiah.

What a statement of belief!

Jesus does not want this to get out to anyone else but the disciples. He warns them not to tell anyone else. He is not ready yet to have that true identity spoken publicly. He is already in trouble with the authorities. Having people talk about Jesus as the Messiah would make it worse.

Jesus then tells the disciples exactly what it means to be the Messiah---it involves suffering, rejection, death, and then resurrection. This was not what the disciples were expecting. Many thought that the Messiah would inaugurate a New Kingdom and would overthrow the Roman rule.

Peter takes Jesus aside to express concern about this. He does not want to see Jesus suffer and die. He loves Jesus and has been following Him. 

We are surprised to see Jesus reacting so strongly. He actually refers to Peter as Satan! He does this because He wants to let the disciples know clearly and strongly that Peter has gotten it wrong.

In order to know what it means to be the Messiah, we have to think differently. We have to look at this from God's perspective.

Jesus elaborates on this with the crowd. He talks about denying ourselves and losing our lives. This is such a different perspective.

Jesus is sharing a challenging message. It is hard to hear and easy to walk away from. The Messiah would have to suffer. There would be rejection involved.

As His followers we face the same reality. There will be suffering for us. There will be rejection for us.

We can understand why Peter finds this difficult and why he wants to "rebuke" Jesus. This, however, is the path to resurrection, to freedom from death, to new life.

Jesus is teaching us what it means to be the Messiah.

Will we follow?

1. Who do you say Jesus is?

2. How do you feel about Peter trying to rebuke Jesus?

3. Do you feel that Jesus is too harsh in His reaction to Peter?