Intro
Setup MADtv clip.
Passage
27 Then Jesus and his disciples went to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 They said, “John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
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31 Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke openly about this. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But after turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”
Prayer
Verse-By-Verse
So at this point in Mark we’re just about to turn a corner. Like Mike said last week, the disciples are being shown a re-run. They are having a deja-vu moment. They’re like old Biff in Back to the Future Part II watching his grandson duel with Marty McFly in courthouse square and saying… “There’s something very familiar about all this…”
But unlike Back to the Future II this is not merely a fun moment of nostalgia, but rather an intentional reenforcement of a previous revelation by Jesus. They needed to see it again. They needed to experience it again. They were participating in something they had never dreamed of. They were participating in something they never expected. They were participating in something that was a radical shift from tradition. This was massive shift for these men!
So often we laugh at stooopid Peter. What an eeeeeediot. So often we call the disciples faithless and nod our head along when Jesus calls them hard-hearted. But I have a question:
How often do you look in the mirror and ask if you are one of them!
If Jesus were here in the flesh would he give you a big thumbs-up and tell you “it’s all good, bruh!”, or would call you spiritually blind and hard-hearted? A word of humility to each of us. When we read the Gospel we can tend to identify with Jesus, and that’s very generous of us, but the fact is that we are Peter, and we need to be humble enough to recognize that and choose to follow the Jesus who redeemed us with grace that is bigger than sin. Amen?
Amen.
Verse 27
Then Jesus and his disciples went to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
They’re on their way north when Jesus goes all Dennis Hopper, “Pop Quiz Hotshot!”. Jesus’ quiz is only two questions long, but it is absolutely critical. The answer given here will enable a turning point. The disciples are going to go from establishing Jesus’ love and power, to plan and purpose. The answers to these two questions will show if the disciples are ready to graduate from Christianity 101 to Christianity 102. So then what is their response?
Verse 28
They said, “John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets.”
This telling. Some people think He is John the Baptist. The one who was killed back from the dead? Maybe they were unaware Herod had him killed to impress a girl. Or possibly Elijah or another prophet… what do all of these people have in common?
They are NOT the messiah! These figures are all people who are preparing the way of the Lord. These figures are all men of God, but they are not God. And what’s interesting about this is that Jesus’ first question is not trying to gauge the Disciples’ perception. Rather, the question is trying to take the cultural temperature. And the culture of the time believed that Jesus was a good man, a moral man, very likely a Godly man… but NOT God. It’s funny, isn’t it? The more things change, the more they stay the same. I bet the average person on the street would tell you that Jesus was a good man, a moral man, maybe even a Godly man… but certainly He was not God! As you read through the Gospels, it is clear that Jesus thought of HIMSELF as God, so then the hypothesis that Jesus was a good man, but not God is utterly unsalvageable! As C.S. Lewis rightly points out….
If Jesus was not God and he knew it, he was a lair and manipulator of the highest order. And on the flip side, if Jesus was not God and DIDN’T know it, then he was mentally ill. So if you think Jesus was a good person, then the only logical outflow of that, is that He was also God. Which is where the disciples go when Jesus asks his follow-up question.
Verse 29
He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”
We often use the term Christ as though it were Jesus’ surname. But this was actually a title. And it means “Messiah” or “Anointed One”. And what’s interesting is that this is the first time any human has recognized Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One… God. The demons have done, but Peter — speaking on behalf of the 12 — is the first human. And only after this point does Jesus use the term. And even then, He doesn’t really directly apply it to Himself. So the question naturally becomes…. why not? Let’s put that IN OUR POCKET for a minute.
Verse 30
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
Why? Great question! Let’s keep reading for the answer…
Verse 31
Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
This is where it starts to get really good. This is the beginning of a larger passage in which Jesus predicts his death 3 times. And each time Jesus follows up with a call to discipleship. But I don’t want to give too much away for next week. So, we’ll back away slowly from the end of the chapter and back up to verse 31…
The interesting thing in verse 31, is that after Jesus is called the Messiah by Peter, He self-identifies as the “Son of Man”.
The “Son of Man”? Now… I’m no biology major but… what?
This is a reference to a passage in the book of Daniel:
Daniel 7:13–14 (NET) — “I was watching in the night visions, and with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man was approaching. He went up to the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him. To him was given ruling authority, honor, and sovereignty. All peoples, nations, and language groups were serving him. His authority is eternal and will not pass away. His kingdom will not be destroyed.
So… FROM OUR POCKET emerges the question: why embrace this one-off phrase from Daniel rather than the much better-known “Messiah”? Why tell the disciples to stay quiet about his Messiahship in verse 30?
Because the term “Messiah” had a massive amount of semantic baggage. That means that the word came with all kind of meaning and expectation. The Messiah was expected to be a mighty king and a military leader, the Messiah was expected to vanquish the enemies of Israel and restore them to their earthly glory. The Messiah was expected to come in force with wrath in one hand and justice in the other. And thank God we were so very wrong about that! Because the last thing a planet full of fallen people should be hoping for is the wrath of a Holy God and the Just Punishment we have earned.
See Jesus, rather than claiming the term “Messiah” and trying to rehabilitate it, embraces this other term — Son of Man — and from this new, clean platform — devoid of semantic baggage — Jesus began to redeem the term Messiah. The term Christ.
And that process begins with this prophecy. Jesus tells the disciples that He must:
- Suffer
- Be rejected
- Be killed
- Rise again
Far from the Mighty Military Man-O-War the Jewish people expected, they get a man who will be rejected, beaten, and killed. Because the Gospel of Christ begins with atonement rather than wrath. With forgiveness rather than judgement. And thank God for that awesome truth.
So then the question becomes: why tell the disciples this? Why not just surprise them with a resurrection from outta nowhere! It’s because the prophecy itself is important.
We often misunderstand prophecy, we think it is a prediction of the future as an end in itself. For bragging rights, I suppose. There’s not much other use in it. But instead the role of the prophet of God is to validate future events as the unfolding will of God. As Soren Kierkegaard famously said:
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
Before we move on to verse 32, I want to draw attention to Suffering, Rejection, and Death. This was spearheaded by the Elders, the Chief Priests, and the Experts in the Law. These three groups made up the Sanhedrin. This group was the Supreme Council and Tribunal of the Jewish community. And we’re going to pop that nugget IN OUR NOW EMPTY POCKET and keep moving.
Verse 32
He spoke openly about this. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him
Yes. I read that right. Peter rebukes Jesus. Peter. Rebukes Jesus.
Just to prove that Jesus was right to keep a distance from the title of Messiah, Peter rebukes Jesus. Suffering and rejection had no place in Peter’s conception of the Messiah. So rather than take Jesus at face value and accept the MESSIAH’S ACTUAL WORDS, Peter rebukes Jesus. Peter Goes full Meat Loaf. He tells Jesus;
I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that
And once again we cluck our tongues and tap our chins as we ponder what is wrong with this poor sad Peter fellow. But friends, again I encourage each of us to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we are really submitted to the will of God, or if we’re just doing what we think is best and if God approves… well… all the better then. Look around the culture and you will find people all too happy to reject the Jesus of the Bible and remake Him in their own image. I routinely see pastors who are eager to cast aside the clear teaching of the Bible to embrace whatever thing is popular in the secular culture and cite “Jesus” as their source. As though God has given them a fresh new revelation that supersedes the Bible. We think we are superior to Peter, but as I said at the beginning of today’s message… the fact is that we are Peter, and we need to be humble enough to recognize that and choose to follow the Jesus who redeemed us with grace that is bigger than sin. Amen?
Verse 33
But after turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”
At first glance we likely see this as a SICK BURN~! But that’s not what’s happening here. Jesus is driving home the strongest possible correction. Not just of Peter, but of all who would try to mangle the Good News of the Gospel to make it something they like better.
By doing that you align yourself with Satan and his purposes rather than God and His purposes.
And that’s where we pull the Religious Rulers back OUT OF OUR POCKET. The men who saw to it that Jesus was beaten. Who saw to it that He was mocked and rejected. Who saw to it that he was murdered in the most excruciating manner available… these were not the wicked and godless. They were the pious and esteemed.
The evil ones did not destroy Jesus… the evil were afraid of Him. It was the righteous who gleefully sought His destruction.
This was not a brief overwhelming rage in the heat of the moment. This was a cold, calculated, methodical plot to have Jesus crucified.
This was not unruly mob justice… this was done with law and order.
This… this is what we do apart from God. We kill God in service of God.
And the saddest part of this? These people think they’re the good guys. The pastors who twist the Gospel to make it more inline with cultural norms? They think they’re being loving. They think they’re being inclusive. They want to grow the church… but they aren’t adding souls to the Kingdom of God, only the kingdom of man. And the individual who denies God’s calling, leading, and direction to go their own way rebuke Jesus and tell Him their plan is better than His.
How dare we?
So What?
The Gospel of Mark is divided into two parts. The first part, which we are finishing today, has Jesus showing the disciples His power and His provision. This is where Jesus shows the depth and power of His love.
The second part, which we are also starting today, is where He shares his plan, and asks his followers to do just that; follow Him. This is called progressive revelation.
First, Paul tell us that if we do not have love we are nothing. It is critical to Jesus that we understand this. Because Love breaks down walls, love breaks down barriers, love opens doors, and love finds a way.
And once we understand that, second part is the need to focus that love through the lens of truth. For Jesus, the full unvarnished truth is absolutely paramount. This is how it should be for the Christian as well. We should not compromise the message of the Gospel to make it more palatable to ourselves or anyone else.
Buckley’s cough syrup used to use the slogan, “Buckley’s. It tastes awful. And it works.”
God doesn’t care if the Gospel is easy like Sunday morning or goes down like a cup of Buckley’s. He cares that you get the real, honest, uncompromised Gospel. The truth of a God who loved you enough to give up His life for you, and asks that you give up your life to Him.
- Accept Jesus, contact me to learn more
- Humility and submission will bring peace and joy like you’ve never known.
Amen
- Buckley’s vs easy like a sunday morning