Mark 8:27-38
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 Messiah.”
30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many thing 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.”
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
One thing I did not appreciate before that I do now is a survey. I used to hate taking surveys. I thought it was a waste of time. I did not want to take a bunch of time to fill out a form or do an interview telling someone how I felt about an issue or a product. Now that I do so much work with large groups, I see that surveys have value. Those surveys allow me to see what is going on with many people all at once. I get the results, learn something from those results, and work smarter the next time around. Surveys will let me know what I am doing well, where I can improve, and what someone feels at a particular time. I am not the only that appreciates looking at the data from surveys.
Marketers know this, which is why the technology boom of the last few decades has been helpful for them. In a high-tech world, companies and pollsters will still get information from us about whether we want them to or not. Have you ever been to the grocery store and purchased some candy with your rewards card? Or have you maybe entered your phone number? Then the next week, you get a coupon emailed to you for that candy and several other kinds of candy like it. The grocery store knows what you like without you ever having to tell anyone.
Say you are searching online for a new pair of shoes. You surf through images of shoes. You then decide to see what's happening on Facebook. Suddenly, ads for those same shoes you looked at are plastered all over your page. And you will continue to see them until you search for something else, which will then take over your page and so on.
Add to that the fact that just about every time you make a purchase, a little survey pops up asking you about your shopping experience, and every time you stay at a hotel, you get an email from the booking site asking you to rate it. Not only is the rating helpful to fellow travelers, but it also tells the booking site what kind of hotels you might want to check out in the future. It's little wonder that we have begun to believe that marketers know more about us than we know about ourselves, and they know what we want even before we do and have been doing it for years!
I read an article about eight years ago where a father got mad at a store because the store started sending coupons for diapers, formula, baby wipes, etc., to the house; the father said no one at his home was pregnant. Why are you sending these coupons? The store predicted that his daughter was pregnant early based on other items she purchased that had nothing to do with baby wipes and diapers. Paying attention to people pays off.
We see Jesus conducting a survey here in scripture. When Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi, he gave them a couple of poll questions. Still, in this case, it's a survey not so much to gather information but rather a chance to define the brand of discipleship he was looking for from them and the type of discipleship Jesus is looking for from us.
Jesus asks the disciples. Who do people say I am? Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still, others say one of the prophets. Then Jesus asks the disciples, who do you say I am? What is your opinion on the matter? You cannot hide behind someone else's words this time.
1st Scandal - Peter's confession
Peter called Jesus the Messiah. Messiah is something familiar to us as readers but not to the people who heard it. Jesus is only called Messiah twice in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus is called Messiah once here in scripture and then a second time later when the high priest interrogates him. The Roman authorities did not like to hear about the Jewish people having a Messiah because the prophecies indicated Messiah was king and priest. To say I am the Messiah during the biblical times was to tell the Roman government I am the new king; this was a scandalous statement. It's easy to look at something from the Biblical times now and think that it's easier to call Jesus the Messiah; we already know he's the Messiah that's what we believe; that's why we are in this room right now watching this service. But during those times, it would not have been as easy to just simply say I am the Messiah; this was the first scandal.
2nd Scandal - Jesus' prophecy
This prophecy summarized the whole gospel in a few words. Jesus did in one verse what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tried to do in their entire books. The Son of Man, the Messiah, would have to suffer, be killed, and rise again on the third day. The disciples and the others were not used to hearing this kind of talk. The first eight chapters of Mark were like a rock star going on tour, Jesus going around performing miracles, healing the sick. Jesus couldn't even take a vacation because people would find him and beg for Jesus to heal them, or their family member, or their friend. Now Jesus is talking about humiliation, rejection, death, and resurrection. Resurrection is cool, but that death part before the resurrection, not as cool. The people expected the Messiah to overthrow the Roman oppressors, free the people of God, and save them from all their troubles, not get rejected by the priests and elders. That is hard for the people to hear, but they have to understand there will be some bad times and some good times.
3rd Scandal - Peter's rebuke
Peter pulled Jesus to the side and rebuked him. I thought it would be strange that Peter would have the audacity to try to tell Jesus what to do. But then I thought about it; there are probably some people right now that think they could tell Jesus what to do. When you think about what kind of arguments happen in the church over what type of music to play, what the pastor wears, who or who should not be in the pulpit, we are all capable of doing some silly stuff. Peter attempted to rebuke Jesus because he said something that Peter and probably the other disciples did not want to hear.
4th Scandal - Jesus' rebuke
Jesus tells Peter to get behind me, Satan, then calls the crowd over to make sure they all get this clear. Peter came to Jesus in private, and Jesus wanted to make sure that he did not have to have any more private conversations about this again. So Jesus faced the whole crowd. Jesus addresses the entire group telling them that if anyone wants to become my follower, they have to take up their cross and follow me. Jesus told them what does it profit to gain the whole world if you lose your soul as believers; Jesus is saying your priorities have to be correct.
Following Jesus means you must be concerned about others over yourself. Discipleship is not about comfort; this is about the work of the cross. We must put down our preferences and pick up those of Christ.
Marketers capitalize on the fact that we want things for ourselves and prefer things that match our own best interests. Jesus calls us to check a different box. We save our lives by losing them, and actual profit only comes through giving our lives over to Jesus, living for his sake and the sake of his kingdom. Discipleship is not popular, trendy, or easy.
The good news with all the scandals, hard work, and self-sacrifice is that in the end, Jesus will win. Jesus said that he will come with the glory of the Father and with God's holy angels in the end. Jesus has the victory, and he knows it.
Jesus is answering the survey himself:
Born of a Virgin
Suffered under Pontus Pilate
Crucified died and buried
Rose again on the third day
All power in his hand
Seated at the right hand of the Father
Coming back again
Survey questions for us:
Do you know him?
Do you believe it?
Will you be ready?
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