Isaiah 53:9-11
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Mark 8:27-33
Peter’s Confession of Christ
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.
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.
Our hope is in the Christ who loved us and died to save us.
Over the course of my career I’ve had dealings with many different people – from my 25 years as a GP in Chipping Norton, in my medical side-line of addictions clinics in Witney, six years as a prison chaplain, and now my role as minister here in our seven parishes. Over that time I’ve got to know hundreds, if not thousands of different people in different settings.
So I’m not always very good at remembering faces and names, especially if I meet someone out of context. I may struggle to recall who you are if you pop up where I’m not expecting you. Last weekend I took a wedding in Bledington. It was a smart affair, and one of the groomsmen came to my attention because I thought I recognised him. Was he a former patient? I didn’t think so. He didn’t look like an ex-addict; and he couldn’t be from the jail as all my old friends there will still be behind bars long after I’m gone.
I asked the churchwarden and the organist but they didn’t recognise him. Then I remembered – I’d seen him on TV. Or so I believed. So I played it very cool and engaged him casually in conversation, without trying to fawn or let on that I recognised him. And I was right, because it turns out that the BBC’s Chief Political Correspondent is a very old friend of the groom. I even remembered his name. But I didn't let on that I knew him off the TV.
So no, I’m not brilliant at recognition – it’s not my super-power. And it wasn’t always a super-power for Peter and the disciples either.
Today’s Gospel reading is a great example of mistaken identity about Jesus – Peter gets the recognition right, but then manages to grasp entirely the wrong end of the stick about his mission.
This short passage is the pivot-point of the whole of Mark’s gospel. All the vignettes and episodes up to this point have been preparing for this passage – and everything that comes after will develop and explain the theme from then onwards.
And the key verse is this, when Jesus asks in v29 ‘But who do you say that I am?’ And Peter – good old Peter – replies, correctly of course: ‘You are the Christ’.
But then Peter goes on to make the most enormous gaffe, as he grasps entirely the wrong end of the theological stick about Jesus.
But before we get into the story, let’s just remind ourselves of the context.
A determined teacher
Mark 8:27-28 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."
It’s been a busy time for Jesus – he’s been out and about in Galilee teaching and healing and exorcising – and the crowds have been growing. The pressure has been intense, as everyone has got to hear about him. His ministry is getting so popular that he hasn’t a moment’s peace. Jesus needs some space to instruct his disciples and so he moves into more remote areas to continue the teaching and preparation of this little band of men.
So we find him now on the road to Caesarea Philippi – a small town right up in the northern extremes of Galilee near the Syrian border. Maybe there he will be less well known and he can get on with the job of training up these dozen men. And it’s on that dusty road that he asks them, v 27 –Who do people say I am?
The answer from the disciples is that there are several ideas currently going round – including one theory that has troubled even King Herod, who had executed John the Baptist:
Mark 6:14 King Herod heard about Jesus, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him."
But others thought he might be Elijah – because the prophet Malachi, who wrote the last book in our OT scriptures, prophesied that Elijah would return to herald ‘the great and dreadful day of the Lord’ Mal 4:5. Others thought Jesus might be one of the other OT prophets reborn – Matthew mentions specifically Jeremiah in his Gospel account.
Note that in each case the popular opinion is that Jesus is a herald of the coming of God – but not God himself. So in a way, the popular ideas on the street have all grasped the wrong end of the stick about Jesus. They all seem to think that he’s the support act for something bigger. So now, Jesus’ question to his disciples: who do YOU say that I am?
A difficult lesson
Mark 8:29-31 "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. 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.
Peter answers very coolly, ‘You are the Christ’. I’d love to know how he said that. Was it a tentative whisper – ‘I think you might be the Christ’ – or is it something more definite – ‘Surely you’re the Christ’. We’re not told. But for the moment that’s enough for Jesus – he accepts that at face value and tells them to keep schtum. He doesn’t want this to go any further at this stage. He doesn’t want word getting round.
Why not? Well, the next few verses demonstrate very clearly why not.
You see, many Jews were awaiting the Christ. That’s a Greek word, meaning the Anointed One – in Hebrew the word is Messiah. And in the OT Scriptures, the anointed one is the one set apart to be king. Remember Samuel anointed the shepherd-boy David to be king, long before King Saul was killed and lost the throne. David was king-in-waiting, anointed and set apart ready.
So the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, has a very particular profile for a nation that has lost its sovereignty; a nation which has been ruled by outsiders like the Greeks and the Romans for the past couple of hundred years.
Surely the Christ was a king-in-waiting - who would expel the foreigners, dispense with the puppet king Herod and restore in himself the true Israelite monarchy – and with it the national pride, self-respect and prosperity of that oppressed people.
And that, for Jesus, is the problem. Because his ministry is not to be about power and authority in a worldly sense – remember Satan tempted him towards all those things while he was in the wilderness, and he refused to go down that route, way back at the start of his ministry. Because Jesus’ notion – God’s notion – of the Christ is very different. So Jesus goes on to explain the truth about the Christ.
Maybe they have arrived in Caesarea Philippi by now and are relaxing over a meal – we’re not told. But Jesus breaks the bad news (as far as the disciples are concerned) that they have misunderstood what the Christ, the Messiah, is all about. They have got the wrong end of the stick. For this Christ is one who will suffer: he will suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law (which is the sum total of the ruling religious authorities) and will be killed.
And there’s a coldness about that rejection – the Greek word implies that his teaching will be scrutinised by the authorities, and then rejected. Not in a knee-jerk sort of way, but deliberate, calculated rejection. And he will be killed - eliminated, liquidated. But there is hope: he will rise again after three days. And we read (v32) that he spoke plainly about this – he was being very clear in what he taught his disciples. Make no mistake; this is how it will be.
A desperate response
Mark 8:32-33 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."
Poor Peter: his illusions were shattered – he was holding so firmly to the wrong end of that stick that he couldn’t help but argue for the popular version of a more political Messiah: he began to rebuke Jesus. Matthew tells us his actual words: ‘Far be it from you Lord. This shall never happen to you’
Unspoken sub-text: ‘what’s the point of a dead Messiah? What good is that to anyone?’
And Peter earns a rebuke that is stronger than anything Jesus ever delivered to a Scribe or a Pharisee: "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men".
This is a challenging enough path for Jesus: and now Peter is tempting him again, just like Satan did in the desert when he offered him authority over all the lands that he could see. Hence Jesus’ incredibly strong words.
This is why this is the pivot point in Mark’s Gospel, because now we get the first inkling of what Jesus’ mission is all about – what the godly concept of Messiah is to be. (And actually, it shouldn’t come as a surprise, because there are hints of this through the OT scriptures, including the suffering servant passage from Isaiah that we heard as our first reading). Because the Messiah has not come to save Israel from the Romans. His mission is far greater: it is to save the whole world, and from a far greater enemy – from their sin and rebellion against God. His mission is to be so much broader, and its effects will be so much more profound. It will entail his death and resurrection after 3 days.
He hasn’t explained yet how this works to his disciples, but we know with hindsight that his death paid the price, the sentence for sin that should have been ours; his resurrection in triumph over sin and death was to restore us to a right relationship with God.
Peter and the other disciples had the wrong end of the stick in their idea about who the Christ was to be; they must put down their stick and pick it up again the right way round; and grasp this radical but godly understanding of the Christ and his mission. And, like teacher, like disciple – they too must understand that anyone who would follow must take up his own cross and follow the master (v34).
So, what does this passage mean for us? It is absolutely key to our understanding of the gospel story. Because the question that Jesus posed then is a question that he poses still to each of us, even today: Who do YOU say that I am?
In our world, in our churches even, we will find a variety of responses. Sadly, for many the stick is still the wrong way round in the hand and we are grasping it firmly even so. How many will say, like the Israelites of Jesus’ day, ‘he is a prophet’ – a great teacher, a great example, a great expression of how we might behave ourselves. Wrong end of the stick.
For others, he’s one of many helpful religious leaders alongside the prophet Mohammed, the Buddha, and so on. Wrong end of the stick.
For others, he’s simply a fictional character who embodies some nice ideals. Wrong end of the stick.
Who do YOU say that Jesus is? Do you recognise him? Today, this morning, if you can say that he is the Christ, and in Matthew’s version, the Son of the Living God… then what does that mean? It means that he has died for you, to carry your sin, to bring you forgiveness and reconciliation to the God who loves you. Jesus gave his life for you. He is the Christ - there is none other like him.
And if that’s who you say that he is, then your life can never be the same again – for what can you do but follow him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, wherever that might lead. Even if it means taking up your own cross to follow him. For he has ransomed your soul at the greatest price.
And that is a message that the church must hold forth in our secular and troubled times. For the nature of Jesus as suffering servant, the Christ who saves us through his death and resurrection, must always be absolutely central to our story. For that is the hope that saves us – and that is the hope we must share.
Who do YOU say that he is?