Jesus Predicts His Death - Mark 8:31-33
Jesus Predicts His Death
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 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 concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Reflection: In explaining the nature of the kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven, Jesus has used many proofs. He has healed all types of diseases, delivered demons, calmed the tempest, and most recently fed thousands with a few loaves and fish on two occasions. But all of this was not for the effect of the miracles themselves, but to point to who He was, and that in believing we might have life in His name. And yesterday we saw that one disciple, Peter, got it right when he put forth the idea that Jesus was the "Christ", the Anointed One of God.
But this shows that the disciples had not yet understood the nature of his Messiahship. They were under the impression that He might bring in a temporal kingdom, which was a false pre-conceived notion. So Jesus begins to teach them the true nature of His mission, which would be one of triumph not in a military sense, but a victory over sin, death and the power of the devil. On the cross Jesus defeated all of our enemies as Colossians 2:15 says, "Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them on the cross."
The text says he spoke plainly about his, as if to imply it was matter of fact for him. But Peter did not see it that way. Perhaps out of affection for Jesus, or perhaps because connected to his confession of Jesus as Messiah, were false assumptions relating to national interests. Best possible construction was he was doing this out of love. Worst possible construction is his rebuke was motivated by a more selfish desire. Maybe it was a little of both. But we must remember that Peter and the disciples had been under the dominance of the Romans and were a people dispossessed of their homeland. So it is not surprising they were hoping for a reversal of fortune with the Messiah that they had hoped Jesus would be.
Jesus similarly rebukes Peter and even labels him as Satan. This might seem a little over the top, unless we understand the real meaning of the word "Satan". It means obstructer or block. So Jesus was rebuking the spirit in Peter that was trying be an obstacle to the cross. Notice too Jesus says this is having the concerns of the world over the concerns of God. By implication we can see that one of Satan's strategies is to get people so concerned about the things of the world they have little impact on God's kingdom coming on earth. Rather than dramatic schemes you can see how subtle this strategy is.
What can we learn from this? We could be blocking God's purposes unknowingly. We could be focused on something we think is furthering Jesus' interests when our concerns are really of man not of God. Matthew says to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness so that all the things we need may be added to us as well. So how can we know if we are focused on the things of God versus man? If we are seeking God's kingdom it will likely involve us dying to our own concerns and self aggrandizement. And as we study Jesus' life we have the prime example of what this looks like. That is why it is always good to spend time in the Gospels reading all 4 over and over. Each one has a particular emphasis that is helpful for us to learn from Jesus. The book of Acts is also helpful because we see an example of the early community doing many of the things Jesus did. This fulfills what Jesus said when he stated, "You will do even greater things than these."
So the question to ponder is: does our church and individual lives look anything like Jesus and the early church. If not, we will want to re-calibrate our mission, time and efforts. Today would be a good day to assess, "Am I more concerned about the things of man or of God". A good test would be where are my time, talents and treasures being invested? As we are guided and led by the Holy Spirit we can be assured of making a difference that will last for all eternity with our investments. Amen.
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 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 concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Reflection: In explaining the nature of the kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven, Jesus has used many proofs. He has healed all types of diseases, delivered demons, calmed the tempest, and most recently fed thousands with a few loaves and fish on two occasions. But all of this was not for the effect of the miracles themselves, but to point to who He was, and that in believing we might have life in His name. And yesterday we saw that one disciple, Peter, got it right when he put forth the idea that Jesus was the "Christ", the Anointed One of God.
But this shows that the disciples had not yet understood the nature of his Messiahship. They were under the impression that He might bring in a temporal kingdom, which was a false pre-conceived notion. So Jesus begins to teach them the true nature of His mission, which would be one of triumph not in a military sense, but a victory over sin, death and the power of the devil. On the cross Jesus defeated all of our enemies as Colossians 2:15 says, "Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them on the cross."
The text says he spoke plainly about his, as if to imply it was matter of fact for him. But Peter did not see it that way. Perhaps out of affection for Jesus, or perhaps because connected to his confession of Jesus as Messiah, were false assumptions relating to national interests. Best possible construction was he was doing this out of love. Worst possible construction is his rebuke was motivated by a more selfish desire. Maybe it was a little of both. But we must remember that Peter and the disciples had been under the dominance of the Romans and were a people dispossessed of their homeland. So it is not surprising they were hoping for a reversal of fortune with the Messiah that they had hoped Jesus would be.
Jesus similarly rebukes Peter and even labels him as Satan. This might seem a little over the top, unless we understand the real meaning of the word "Satan". It means obstructer or block. So Jesus was rebuking the spirit in Peter that was trying be an obstacle to the cross. Notice too Jesus says this is having the concerns of the world over the concerns of God. By implication we can see that one of Satan's strategies is to get people so concerned about the things of the world they have little impact on God's kingdom coming on earth. Rather than dramatic schemes you can see how subtle this strategy is.
What can we learn from this? We could be blocking God's purposes unknowingly. We could be focused on something we think is furthering Jesus' interests when our concerns are really of man not of God. Matthew says to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness so that all the things we need may be added to us as well. So how can we know if we are focused on the things of God versus man? If we are seeking God's kingdom it will likely involve us dying to our own concerns and self aggrandizement. And as we study Jesus' life we have the prime example of what this looks like. That is why it is always good to spend time in the Gospels reading all 4 over and over. Each one has a particular emphasis that is helpful for us to learn from Jesus. The book of Acts is also helpful because we see an example of the early community doing many of the things Jesus did. This fulfills what Jesus said when he stated, "You will do even greater things than these."
So the question to ponder is: does our church and individual lives look anything like Jesus and the early church. If not, we will want to re-calibrate our mission, time and efforts. Today would be a good day to assess, "Am I more concerned about the things of man or of God". A good test would be where are my time, talents and treasures being invested? As we are guided and led by the Holy Spirit we can be assured of making a difference that will last for all eternity with our investments. Amen.
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