Mark 8:31-9:1

Jesus Predicts His Death

31He 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. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33But 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."

34Then 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. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Mark 9

1And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."



BACKGROUND READING:


Isaiah 52:13-53:12


Zechariah 1:7-17



Dig Deeper

Danger and death were a fairly regular part of life in first-century Palestine. The people were pretty used to harsh leaders, rebellions, and executions. Anytime a new leader popped up with a new message, death was always the possible end of things. If Jesus wasn’t already sure of that, the death of John the Baptist would have confirmed it for him.


Although that was always a possibility, this is seemingly something different beyond the usual danger. Following his disciples’ realization that Jesus is the Messiah, things quickly change in the mind of Jesus. It is only once they begin to grasp who he is and what he is truly doing that he can begin to teach them some of the things that he is about to reveal. The new lesson seems to be not that there may be danger ahead, but that they will be walking straight into it. There are, of course, lessons from this point that Mark wants us to pick up on. Once we begin to understand who Jesus is and what he wants from us, the stakes are raised and things begin to change drastically. Jesus calls us, just as he called his disciples, to go on the mission with him, and true discipleship always involves walking right into the middle of difficult situations.


This cannot be what the disciples had in mind from Jesus, though. Maybe they had already put together that he wasn’t going to be a military leader, but they had no conception of him marching straight towards his death. He seemed to be saying that he was going to fail and that they were going to fail with him. There also seems to be a degree to which they were totally confused. Jesus had been speaking rather cryptically to this point, and it appears that although, they understood that he was predicting failure at some level, they didn’t understand the references to him being killed. Perhaps he is speaking in parables again?


Whatever he was saying, though, it had to be wrong. A Messiah doesn’t get killed by the authorities. There was no conception of the Messiah predicted by the prophets and sent by God experiencing failure. A Messiah who did that was no Messiah at all, he was a false Messiah. So what was he saying? Mark will answer that more fully later, but he does give a hint in verse 38. Dying and rising again is the way that Jesus will come into his Father’s glory. This is clearly the way that Jesus saw his vocation. This was his destiny as Israel’s representative (which is what the Messiah was), and his disciples would have to be prepared to follow in his footsteps.


Any opposition to that plan, as vital as it is, must be seen as satanically inspired, even if it comes from one of his closest disciples, Peter. Peter, no doubt, challenged him on his dismal view of his mission. Perhaps, in his own mind, Peter was even trying to challenge and encourage Jesus. It is always a challenge for those who would follow Jesus to view the world from heaven’s standpoint rather than an earthly one. This is what Peter failed to do. He had the wrong worldview.


Jesus then clears things up for those who would follow him on this mission. Following him would mean denying themselves and picking up their cross. This was not just a metaphor for a first-century Jew. They all knew he was saying that they might die on this mission. Yet, he reminds them that those who hold on to what they have and reject discipleship, will forfeit their place in the kingdom. Those who accept the kingdom will get it, and the life of the ‘age to come’ to boot. Jesus makes it clear by verse 38, that this was a particular message for those sitting there that day contemplating whether they would follow him or not.


Jesus continues to demonstrate that he thinks all this is going to happen soon, in the lifetime of many of those listening to him on the day he uttered these words. He is not talking about some misplaced hope of a future existence. What Jesus is saying is that he believes that the kingdom of God will come with power through his own death and suffering.


Again, there are lessons from all of this that Mark wants us to learn. Although the mission that we are called on is not identical and does not usually involve the same kind of immanent danger, following Jesus still involves denying our own agenda and picking up Jesus’. It means that we commit ourselves to following him no matter what that might mean. In the end, this is what being a Christian is all about; this is how we too can enter into the kingdom of God.



Devotional Thought

Mark’s concept of being a Christian is that of following Jesus. In order to do that though, Jesus, said his disciples must abandon their own agenda in life and pick up his. Have you truly done that? In what areas of your life do you still cling to your own agenda? What will it take for you to truly sacrifice every area of your life to Jesus and his kingdom?