Scripture Daily

Context No. 57 of 4322 · Mark

Context · Reflection

Mark 8:30-38: in context

30He commanded them that they should tell no one about him. 31He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He spoke to them openly. Peter took him and began to rebuke him. 33But he, turning around and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men.” 34He called the multitude to himself with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for my sake and the sake of the Good News will save it. 36For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37For what will a man give in exchange for his life? 38For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

This is the turning point of Mark's Gospel. Peter has just said out loud that Jesus is the Messiah, and Jesus immediately tells the disciples to keep it quiet. Then he explains what being the Messiah means: rejection by the elders and chief priests, being killed, and rising three days later. Mark notes he said this openly, in plain speech, not in parables.

Peter takes him aside and rebukes him. The word is strong, the same one used for silencing demons. He had the title right and the job description entirely wrong, since nothing in the expectation of a Messiah included being executed by the authorities. Jesus turns, looks at the other disciples, and rebukes Peter back: get behind me, Satan, you are thinking as men think, not as God does. Moments after the great confession, the same man is called an adversary. The rebuke is also a repositioning, since behind me is exactly where a follower belongs.

Then he calls the crowd over so they can hear the terms too: deny yourself, take up your cross, follow. The saying appears again later in Luke. Here it comes right on top of Peter's mistake, as the correction to it. Where have I got the name of something right while quietly refusing what it actually costs?

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