MARK 8:27--9:1
R E LANGFORD JR
This is the final reflection on the Gospel according Mark in the sequence agreed to with
my Canadian friend 'joegabe.' It is my plan to take some time to share with my wife and
our children and grandchildren. Later this year, the Lord willing, I hope to continue to
write what I am able about what I remember of Mark's good news tale.
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1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:27-30, the first half of Simon Peter's confession, for joegabe1 in Royal Family Coffee Shop chatroom @ DELPHI on Fri., 25MAY2012
1revd: *MSG* Give God the thanks, the praise, and the adoration in Jesus' Name and for his sake. Amen.
1revd: *MSG* Peter's Confession of Christ 27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" 28 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." 29 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
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1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. Once again, in order to have some time alone with his chosen band of disciples, avoids confrontation with the Pharisees in Galilee. Caesarea Philippi is located at the foot of Mt. Hermon, about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, a stiff two day walk for Jesus and The Twelve. Jesus does not seem to have entered the Roman town, but frequented the villages round about it.
1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:27 (continued) On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" What is this sudden interest in gossip? Has Jesus shown any care previously for what people say in his ministry? We remember that Jesus has gone into Gentile territory previously, and has even engaged people who were not Jews in conversation. Has he reached a "tipping point" in his ministry to the Jews, and is now considering an expansion of the scope of it? How far is the rule of God supposed to extend?
coffeebot: *PART* Left room.
coffeebot: *JOIN* Entered room.
coffeebot: *MSG* coffeebot Welcome to The Coffee Shop, we are glad you could come.
coffeebot: *MSG* Experience the best bot in the city. [www.TheBotCity.com]
1revd: *MSG* Jesus seems able to heal people's infirmities without a focus on their faith in him as an agent of God, as the Messiah of the Most High. Is it possible that this is a clear signal to him that it is time to confront (where they are most powerful) those opposed to the rule of God in this world? Ever since Jesus arrived on the scene in Mark's tale . . . , we auditors have been eager for such a clue, a clue that we are included.
1revd: *MSG* MARK 1:14-15 = 14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" signs that the old ways are crumbling catch people's attention. So, "Who do people say I am?" does seem to make some sense.
1revd: *MSG* Jesus has been giving signs that the end of the old order is here. Mark tells us, shows us plainly, that in the person of Jesus, and in his message, and in the wonders he performs, God is personally breaking into this earthly realm with great might. God planned from the beginning to rule in this earthly created order as he does in heaven. Christians who put their trust in Jesus as God's Messiah learn to pray precisely for this: "Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven." I put it to you, THAT is who Jesus is! Jesus is continuing his 'empirical' testing, even as I prepare this and you perceive it.
1revd: *MSG* MARK 8: 28 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." The Twelve jump to the same mistaken presumption to which we all might jump, Jesus is checking out the gossip.
1revd: *MSG* How wrong can one be? I must admit that I've held the view of many in the past, and even focused on how the gossip about Jesus fails to answer his question. I admit it is fun to show how shallow and frivolous the gossip was . . . and remains to this day. I'm sure I've preached a sermon on how we, like the people of his time, confuse Jesus with some revivified Baptizer, some wonderworker reincarnated, or even a good man telling us God's POV on how life ought be lived. How wrong I've been!
1revd: *MSG* Ah, ha! The coffeebot is back; I'd not noticed.
coffeebot: *MSG* 1revd: Eureka! I have never heard about it. No one says you have to.
1revd: *MSG* :)
1revd: *MSG* My point? In Mark's tale, this is a "set up" for Jesus' inquiry that comes next. You and I, just like The Twelve, need to delve deeply into hearing the meaning of Jesus' question, "Who do people say I am?" I'd heard perhaps two, maybe three, sermons that emphasize the confession seeking core feature of this inquiry as a youngster. How blest I am! MARK 8: 29 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" [ASIDE: The word "you" in the Greek is plural, not singular. ASIDE ENDS]
1revd: *MSG* I take it that includes me. What about you, my readers/ auditors, does it include you?
1revd: *MSG* YES, yes! a thousand times, yes! "Who do you say I am?" says the Messiah to each of us, as we hear it being read into our ears during worship, or in a bible study such as this. If we miss this, then we are like the people of whom Jesus says, (in another place), "they look, and looking they do not see; they hear, and though listening they do not comprehend."
1revd: *MSG* We are liable to become the (good) seed sown by the farmer, but the birds of the air gobble us up. We remain dense and silly in our ignorance. All because our hearts are hardened by the adversaries of Jesus who would trick us into thinking he is speaking to someone other than ourselves. As sinners with perverted minds, corrupt hearts, and ill wills we will do anything to put some space between ourselves and this question of the Lord. Our Adversary knows this and will stultify our minds and harden our hearts and close our ears rather than let THE SPIRIT speak directly to us.
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1revd: *MSG* Now an excursus I found in a Lutheran study bible edited in part by one of my teachers. The term "the Christ" in Greek, and the term "the Messiah" in Hebrew both mean "the Anointed One." That was the way in which persons were signed, or "pointed out," marked as chosen by God.
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1revd: *MSG* Beyond this simple straight-forward meaning, ...popular Jewish ideas associated with the term "Christ" were largely political and national. Because of that we note, ...Jesus seldom used it. Of it's seven occurrences in MARK, only three appear to be sayings of Jesus, ...and in none of these does he use the title of himself. We know that Mark identifies Jesus as the Christ in the first verse or title verse of his gospel tale. I have argued earlier that Jesus was busy about the task of re-educating the people who thought he might be merely this popularly understood political Messiah.
1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:29 (continued) Peter answered, "You are the Christ." It is interesting that the band of disciples was addressed in the plural. The question really puts a hearer on the spot, in a "hot seat." The other disciples manage to deflect the question away; they do not respond. Simon Peter does not deflect; he answers.
1revd: *MSG* Some will tell you he speaks on behalf of The Twelve. This they claim is a foreshadowing of his prominent and preeminent place among the disciples after the Resurrection, in the early days of the charismatic, peripatetic church leadership. I don't buy the necessity of reading such a fact backward into this earlier event in the tales of the ACTS of the apostles. Why not choose the simpler more obvious answer? Simon Peter understands, or more precisely stands under the scrutiny of God, and knows he must personally provide a clear testimony as to who he says Jesus is. So he does; we cannot help but love him for his simple openness.
1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:30 = 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Again, a clear trace of the "messianic secret." Whether Jesus said this, or, OTOH, Mark uses it to heighten our interest and suspense in his tale, misses the point. Jesus does not seem to wish anyone to "jump the gun" and tell his enemies, and the enemies of the kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven, that God's rule is breaking in just then. This concludes the first half of Simon Peter's "confession."
1revd: *MSG* Questions? Problems?
1revd: *MSG* Whoops! I forgot, I'm the only one here, so to say.
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1revd: *MSG* :) The second portion of this cameo! :)
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1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:31--9:1 = 31 Jesus then began to teach his disciples. He taught them that the Son of Man must suffer many things. He taught them that the elders would not accept him. The chief priests and the teachers of the law would not accept him either. He must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke clearly about this. Peter took Jesus to one side and began to scold him. 33 Jesus turned and looked at his disciples. He scolded Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You are not thinking about the things of God. Instead, you are thinking about human things."
1revd: *MSG* 34 Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples. He said, "If anyone wants to come after me, he must say no to himself. He must pick up his cross and follow me. 35 If he wants to save his life, he will lose it. But if he loses his life for me and for the good news, he will save it. 36 What good is it if someone gains the whole world but loses his soul? 37 Or what can anyone trade for his soul? 38 "Suppose you are ashamed of me and my words among these adulterous and sinful people. Then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." Mark 9:1 Jesus said to them, "What I'm about to tell you is true. Some who are standing here will not die before they see God's kingdom coming with power." [NIRV]
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1revd: *MSG* First, a reminder: Jesus knew Isaiah and his vision of the "Suffering Servant." We know this because the one time in Nazareth, his home turf, that he read and interpreted scripture in the synagogue there (that was the custom in his day: the person who read was supposed to be able to speak on the passage read) during his public ministry, Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah. Scrolls were incredibly expensive items, each copied letter-perfect by hand (as they are to this day in 2012). It stuns us that a tiny village in the hill country like Nazareth would have such a large, hugely expensive scroll.
1revd: *MSG* Isaiah's view of the "Suffering Servant" was a theme on which time was spent in my sem training. There are four poems (IS. 42:1-9; 49:1-7; 50:4-9; 52:13--53:12) that specify the thesis: God plans to rule the universe through the humans who trust him. The progress of these poems leaves no doubt that the kingdom agenda of God, his return to Jerusalem, will be accomplished through the ministry, and in point of fact the death, of the "Suffering Servant." The last eleven chapters of Isaiah's vision detail of what it will look like when Israel's God does what needs doing.
1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:31 = 31 Jesus then began to teach his disciples. He taught them that the Son of Man must suffer many things. He taught them that the elders would not accept him. The chief priests and the teachers of the law would not accept him either. He must be killed and after three days rise again.
1revd: *MSG* This one verse, as one of my teachers put it, is the key to understanding everything else that is written about Jesus, his person, mission, and ministry.
1revd: *MSG* Notice what Mark does in his gospel tale? Jesus' "empirical" question that, I put it to you, checks out whether he is getting across to his disciples his conception of what the messiah is really like, and, of course, who he himself is, provides the springboard to his teaching them plainly about his coming death and resurrection. [ASIDE: In the Greek, a tiny word "dei," carrying the meaning of necessity, denoting and connoting a divine requirement, a divine imperative, is translated here as "must."]
1revd: *MSG* To summarize: #1 Jesus THEN began to teach his disciples. #2 He uses the "Son of Man" or "descendant of Adam" imagery from Daniel's visions, but connects it to Isaiah's prophetic vision of the suffering and death of God's servant, through whom God acts. #3 Jesus tells his disciples that the people who ought to recognize him and accept him will not recognize or accept him.
1revd: *MSG* [ASIDE: These people are the elders, who are the lay members of the Sanhedrin, the 'high court;" the ranking priests, including Caiaphas, the then current high priest, his relative Annas, the former high priest, and the high priestly families, and the scribes/ lawyers who teach the Law of Moses and the priests who interpret it. These three main groups have representatives who form the membership of the Sanhedrin. ASIDE ENDS]
1revd: *MSG* #4 IT IS NECESSARY that God's anointed one, his messiah be killed . . . and rise again. Just as noted in the prior aside, "must" is the often used English word to translate this divine necessity.
1revd: *MSG* This is not some silly thing like the Roman "fate." It is not some oriental thing like "karma." Purely and simply it is what God wills, hence it is necessary.
1revd: *MSG* "Son of Man" is the title used by Jesus of himself, and never is used by anyone but Jesus. In DAN 7:13-14 the Son of Man is pictured as a divine figure. In this POV of Daniel, the "Son of Man" is entrusted by God with authority, glory, and ultimate ruling power. It is worth noting that Jesus thinks of "Son of Man" as a messianic title. Simon Peter has hardly stopped speaking about Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, and Jesus is using his preferred title "Son of Man" instead of Simon's choice.
1revd: *MSG* IMO, nothing spooky, surreal, mysterious or mystical, or obviously divine is going on here. Jesus knew Isaiah. The stories of Daniel were all the rage at that time as the people dreamed of a restored People of God in their own land not ruled by outsiders. Jesus, for the first time plainly, puts the stories together with Isaiah's vision . . . probably in a way the disciples had never heard them joined before in any synagogue.
1revd: *MSG* Simon Peter's conception of the messiah mimicked the popular view of the day, so he rebukes Jesus for what seemed to him not only unthinkable but flat out error. We're only a tad bit more careful today, but still on people's lips one hears, "I cannot believe in a LORD God who would . . . , implying that humans are judge over who God is and what agenda he may have, and how he may accomplish his will. It's still a sad kettle of fish. All it does is reinforce the perception that these people are set against God and his Anointed One, and dare I add. . . , all those who follow the Messiah.
1revd: *MSG* That the Holy Spirit led Jesus, and that God was in his Christ doing this, I've no doubt. But, again I write it, all it takes is an astute, perceptive reader of scripture to know what is going to happen when these tales are put together, and the "Suffering Servant" is identified in the flesh of a particular man. "He taught them that the elders would not accept him. The chief priests and the teachers of the law would not accept him either." What is truly striking is that this is not a fuss over how to read the bible! There is a divine necessity, God wills it, that the Messiah "must be killed and after three days rise again."
1revd: *MSG* The disciples, however, as one might guess from the fact that their failed leaders (elders, ranking priests, scribes/ lawyers) never taught them these basic viewpoints, do not see it that way. Now, I believe, Simon Peter acts as spokesman for the group, and remonstrates with, scolds, Jesus on their behalf.
1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:32 = 32 He spoke clearly about this. Peter took Jesus to one side and began to scold him. It is not a big jump from here to saying he acted as spokesman earlier when he makes the astounding assertion that Jesus is the Messiah (just like the voice at Jesus' baptism), but I think it's not wise to draw such conclusions unless they are stated.
1revd: *MSG* The disciples, IMO, clearly think they are going to Jerusalem, and Jesus would become king in the expected, obvious, military sense, by force -- and they would form his close circle of intimate friends. Yes, the corrupt Jewish political leaders, temple authorities, and the hated Romans would be thrown out with the normal, humanly invented and controlled military force.
1revd: *MSG* Because of this they still did not connect Jesus' and Isaiah's vision of a suffering messiah with "how" this would happen. I do not believe they had caught, at this point, a glimmer, even a scintilla of the bright fact that Jesus was on the road to Jerusalem as the living embodiment of their God, returning at last, just as he had promised so long ago.
1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:33 = 33 Jesus turned and looked at his disciples. He scolded (severely rebuked) Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You (disciples) are not thinking about the things of God. Instead, you are thinking about human things." Jesus not only suggests the disciples have got it wrong. He identifies Peter as the Adversary, the Accuser, still striving to undo Jesus' ministry and sense of his own person and mission.
1revd: *MSG* Betcha Jesus recognizes this Adversary working in and through Simon Peter as the same enemy who tested him in the desert after his baptism. Simon's attempt to prevent or convince Jesus it was not necessary to go toward the cross was the same temptation, betcha.
1revd: *MSG* Looking at his disciples Jesus tells them all that they're superimposing a humanly devised and thought out way of doing things over what God is planning. This is sin in it's most fundamental shape. They're not thinking the way of Isaiah's vision or Daniel's tale of the kingdom(s) and figure, the "Son of Man." Like the ordinary person yet today, the disciples wanted the kingdom, the power, and the glory, sure; but without suffering and death. Dare I write it? Without a cross!
1revd: *MSG* Some "christians" would have a cross without a kingdom: that is they want an abstract kind of atonement or salvation that has nought to do with this world except to provide a pretty way of escaping it. They like gold and silver ornamental crosses as jewelry, but with no figure of a tortured messiah hanging there.
1revd: *MSG* Other "christians," and there are many of them, want a totally divine Jesus as a kind of superman figure -- a divine hero come to rescue us. Such do not want a human to act as God's agent, a Jewish people's messiah who establishes God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. They are set against God's plan to rule through those who trust him.
1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:34 -- 9:1 = 34 Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples. He said, "If anyone wants to come after me, he must say no to himself. He must pick up his cross and follow me. 35 If he wants to save his life, he will lose it. But if he loses his life for me and for the good news, he will save it. 36 What good is it if someone gains the whole world but loses his soul? 37 Or what can anyone trade for his soul?
1revd: *MSG* 38 "Suppose you are ashamed of me and my words among these adulterous and sinful people. Then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." Mark 9:1 Jesus said to them, "What I'm about to tell you is true. Some who are standing here will not die before they see God's kingdom coming with power."
1revd: *MSG* Notice that Jesus' words are not just for an elite group, but for crowds of people. Jesus simply says again to them what he had been saying in a quasi-private way along the roadside to his disciples. MARK 8:34 Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples. He said, "If anyone wants to come after me, he must say no to himself." It's called self-denial. One ceases to make him or her self, his own wants and will, or her own wants and will the object of our own life and actions.
1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:34 (continued) He must pick up his cross and follow me. Here the image is of a human male, a son of Adam, a son of man, who is already condemned picking up the cross-beam of his own cross and carrying it to the place of execution.
1revd: *MSG* Amen. It is a hard thing to learn. Christians, those who follow in The Way of Jesus the Messiah, must learn to seek what is good and godly for others before they seek it for themselves.
1revd: *MSG* Cross-bearing, as such, then is a willingness to suffer and die for the sake of the Lord Jesus, his message, his will, his agenda for the way the kingdom is to be advanced in this world as it is in heaven. When Jesus adds, "follow me," I think he means that his own death would be by the Romans, and would be as a traitor to Rome, as a petty criminal, thus by crucifixion. This surely would have scandalized the disciples.
1revd: *MSG* MARK 8:35-36 = 35 If he wants to save his life, he will lose it. But if he loses his life for me and for the good news, he will save it. 36 What good is it if someone gains the whole world but loses his soul? 37 Or what can anyone trade for his soul?
1revd: *MSG* A person can save his life and himself or herself in this world simply by not joining Jesus in The Way. Physical life in the here and now, with no glimpse of heaven here and now is within the capability of us sinners. We per dure.
1revd: *MSG* OTOH, discipleship may result in the loss of a comfortable, convenient physical life in the here and now, but that is insignificant when measured against gaining a heavenly life in the hear and now. It's like measuring one's self, or personhood, against everything it's possible to gain, but having to give up who you are to gain that worldly prize.
1revd: *MSG* Jesus ends by predicting that some of them will still be living and able to witness God's kingdom breaking into this world with divine power. That is to say, in his own suffering and death, I have to add.
1revd: *MSG* Some believe that it carries with it the grand reversal: the humiliation, crucifixion, and death of Jesus will be inverted when Jesus returns in glory as the Judge of the living and the dead. (Something mentioned in the creedal summary.)
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1revd: *MSG* That brings us to the end of this entire cameo. It also brings us to the hinge point of Mark's tale. Hence forward Jesus practically can be seen in a hurry to get to Jerusalem and the culmination of his ministry on the cross.
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1revd: *MSG* Let us pray:
1revd: *MSG* Lord Jesus, be with Joegabe and Gabrielle and all our friends here at Royal Family Coffee Shop as they enter upon their new adventure.
1revd: *MSG* Grant them health and happiness, and confirm their desire to seek your will in all their efforts. Bless them with a sense of your nearer presence, and show them your vision of heaven here on earth in your kingdom, just as it is in the divine realm.
1revd: *MSG* We ask this Lord, in your name and for your sake.
1revd: *MSG* Amen.
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1revd: *MSG* I do hope joegabe is able to copy and package this bible study session. I notice that the coffeebot is back, and has not left. I wonder if the "copy" feature is turned on?
coffeebot: *MSG* 1revd: Why do you hope for it. Hm. I hear you. Some of them do, I think.
1revd: *MSG* As this is the close of chapter 8, and first verse of chapter 9, I hope joegabe will be able to make a pdf file of all of Chapter 8 also.
1revd: *MSG* including that one extra verse, of course
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1revd: *MSG* This then concludes the bible study. As we agreed, if I remember correctly. It's been a joy. I appreciate the encouragement to continue to share what I can remember. TY, many, many times, Thank You!
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If this has proven of any interest or utility for anyone, I rejoice. If you have any questions,
doubts, or problems with anything I've posted, please send me a note here at:
mark-bible-...@ecunet.org
or at my address here at ECUNET: r_e_lan...@ecunet.org
I do not promise an answer to please your sensitive mind or heart; I do promise to pray
about what you ask, and to answer if I am able. May our Savior bless and keep you.
The Rev'd R E LANGFORD JR, FAPC, ELCA pastor ! retired !
39.58°N by 75.98°W
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