Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Phillippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am ?" And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at the disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with holy angels."
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This Fall we are in Year B of the Lectionary readings which places us in the last half of the Gospel according to Mark. It might seem an odd place to begin a year but, in fact it begins with two poignant questions: Who do you say that I am/Who is Jesus? and What does it mean to follow Jesus? These will be good questions to keep before us as we gather together this fall.
Who was Jesus? What were people saying about him at this point? He had certainly gathered notoriety in the region; his teachings were gaining large audiences. Just prior to Jesus asking this question four thousand people had followed him up a hillside to hear him speak; to everyone's astonishment (except maybe the boy who brought him the bread and fish) he fed them all. He had raised a girl from the dead, cast out demons, healed a man who was paralyzed. A woman who had been bleeding for years touched them hem of his cloak and was also healed. He had gathered disciples to him and sent them out with authority, preaching repentance, driving out demons and healing people. King Herod knew about Jesus; he was circling around him, wondering who he was, wondering if John, whom he had beheaded, had been raised from the dead, or if Jesus was actually Elijah or if Jesus was a prophet like ones from ages past. His identity eluded people. He ate with the unclean, he associated with sinners, he taught on the sabbath. The disciples knew what people were saying. They had heard people wrestle with the question: "Who is this man who speaks with this authority; even unclean spirits obey him." (Mark 1:27)
But when Jesus turned this question to them, what would the disciples say? Who did they know Jesus as?
This is a shining moment for Peter, the man who is sometimes most well known for being impetuous and double minded. He answered almost instinctively: "You are the Messiah." It is a moment of seeing - Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ.
What does the word Messiah mean? Be sure to ask the children. Messiah is a Hebrew word, we know it from the old testament as meaning anointed one. The children will think of David, who was chosen by God and anointed by Samuel. It means: royal, priestly, prophetic, given over to God's service and under his protection. It meant a special relationship to God and to His people. The people expected a messiah to come from the line of David, an appointed agent of God whose coming would mark the fulfillment of the divine promise and the realization of Israel's hopes. Jesus is indeed the one to bring in God's Kingdom! This is an astonishing moment for the disciples. Jesus does not deny this, he accepts Peter's confession but then says, "do not tell anyone." The Jewish people had ideas of what it would look like to be liberated by a Messiah and how it would happen. But Jesus needed to show them the Messiahship God had ordained, that was spoken of through Isaiah.
Isaiah 53:
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering[a] and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces[b]
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering[a] and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces[b]
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
4 Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
No one would have desired or expected Jesus' messiahship to include: "great suffering, rejection by the chief priests, elders, scribes - death and resurrection."
This sounded so strange and so devastating to the disciples that Peter took Jesus aside to rebuke him - do not speak these things, surely not, Lord. But Jesus words were stronger yet, "Get behind me, Satan." This phrase brings to mind Jesus' temptation in the wilderness and perhaps revealed to Peter that he is not that different than the Jews who want to be delivered by military power. It is a stinging rebuke - how quickly we can move between a moment of clarity and being obscured by our own ideas, hopes, philosophies and fail to see Christ.
Those of us reading the scripture today have the advantage of knowing the story and it's trajectory but for the disciples in the midst of this revelation, which included the death of Jesus (?!), trying to understand the work of God in Christ challenged them on every level. They had to give over their own ideas of who they wanted the Messiah to be, the ways and means by which they wanted salvation accomplished. They had to trust and follow Jesus. But wouldn't these words of suffering and death have profound implications for them?
Soon after Jesus has spoken of his Messiahship, he spoke to the crowd and his disciples saying, "if anyone would come after me he must deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me.... for whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it." In other words: give your life to me, put serving and loving me first and you will find LIFE. John Stott writes this: "If you acknowledge that life is not yours by right, that all is privilege, and that it is to be lived in the love that the gospel story reveals. There is now nothing to lose and everything to gain. Suppose you gain all the worlds riches but lose the inner freedom of loving and being loved by God - what then? What will you give in exchange for the divinely given inwardness, which is the centre of all that is spiritual, the aspect of everything you are, the space God wishes to dwell? These are the choices being offered by Jesus, Messiah, Son of Man. The apparently gloomy news of the cross is now the way to total freedom and fulfillment" (Stott, the message of mark, p. 161). Jesus gave himself up on the cross for love of his people, that we might be saved from the sin and death and set free, that we might be healed and made whole. Our right response to the good news is to live in the light of God's love and to give ourselves wholeheartedly to Jesus.
This past Sunday was Feast of the Holy Cross - how appropriate to take some time to reflect on the meaning and significance of the cross. Have children note how many crosses we have around the church. Why do people wear them on their necks? Encourage the kids to consider what the cross means and what it looks like to give our lives to Jesus.
I look forward to what we will learn about who Jesus is and what it means to be his followers in this particular time and place.
God be with you as you share the Gospel with children this week.
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