Mark 8:27-38

"Poor old Peter. In verse 30, he calls Jesus, the Messiah. Three short verses later, Jesus is calling Peter, 'Satan.'"

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 19, Ordinary Time 24
Sunday Between September 11 and September 17 Inclusive 
15th Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, this is an ideal passage for pondering the transition from summer to fall. The season of rest and recreation, of planting and tending is giving way to season of harvesting. Within each year, and within each lifetime, comes those moments when all that is past becomes the prologue for what is to come. (To paraphrase Wm. Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1.)

The questions that arise in this passage are:

• What have we learned thus far from our travels with Jesus?
• Who is Jesus - really?
• What has all this prepared us for?
• And just what is it that lies ahead?
• What will be required us to actually produce the fruit from all this preparation?
• Are we ready for what lies ahead?

In verses 27-30, Jesus seeks confirmation from his inner group of disciples of what the gossip is about him - "Who do people say that I am?" And then of their assessment - "Who do you all say that I am?"

Malina (see footnote below), offers some very helpful clarifications about these questions:

Viewed through (our) Western eyes, ... the assumption is that Jesus knows who he is and that he is testing the disciples to see whether or not they know as well. ...

viewed from ... Mediterranean understanding of personality, however, it is Jesus who does not know who he is, and it is the disciples from whom he must get this information.

It is also important to recall that in antiquity the question was not the modern one of the identity of an individual, but of the position and power that derived from an ascribed or acquired honor status.

The expected reply to a question about who someone is would have been to identify the family or place of origin (Saul of Tarsus, Jesus of Nazareth). Encoded in that information is all the information needed to place the person in question on the (publically established, eternally unchangeable, rigorously defended)* honor scale.
(page 180) *Bracketed words have been added by D. Ewart.

When Peter says, "You are the Messiah," he confirms the authority / status / honour of Jesus - as seen by his closest followers - to now take his show on the road to Jerusalem.

In a very real sense, up to now, Jesus has been working the small town stages to build up his street cred's. And having made a name for himself, he is now ready to tackle the big leagues - Jerusalem and the Roman authorities.

The rest of Chapter 8 and all of Chapters 9 and 10 are the road trip to the big city - and Jesus' teachings and actions are now all focused on preparing his followers for the actions that will happen there as Jesus brings his proclamation of the Kingdom of God into direct, face-to-face, confrontation with the Empire of Rome.

Poor old Peter. In verse 30, he calls Jesus, the Messiah. Three short verses later, Jesus is calling Peter, "Satan."

Poor old Jesus. In verse 30, his core inner followers affirm that he has "got it;" that he has acquired the authority / honour to undertake the real purpose of his mission. Two short verses later, Peter reveals that they are still mis-understanding and/or unwilling to follow the logic of what he has been teaching them.

The prediction of his suffering and rejection by the religious authorities is actually not rocket science, nor does it require any special divinity on Jesus' part. Given the exalted status now being attributed to Jesus by the people, and given his challenge to the authority of the elders, chief priests and scribes, everyone alive then would know that this could only end badly.

The prediction of his resurrection is a different matter. That adds a whole new, completely novel twist.

As the one who proclaimed the new honour status of Jesus in Verse 30, Peter is quite unnerved by Jesus' teaching in Verse 31. In Verse 30, Peter was not only affirming a high honour status for Jesus, but was also affirming his loyalty to Jesus. And as such, Peter was also anticipating participating in sharing the rewards of Jesus' honour as Messiah. Although the teaching in Verse 31 is only about what will happen to "the Son of Man," Peter and the other disciples know that their loyalty to Jesus demands that they share this fate - just as they had earlier expected to share a quite different outcome. Peter would be surprised, shocked and made fearful by Jesus' teaching in Verse 31.

Peter rebukes Jesus. Jesus rebukes Peter. Calls Peter - or at least Peter's rebuke - Satan. That is, Tempter, Snake in the Garden, Introducer of Hesitation, Mixer of Motivations, Flaunter of Red Herrings, Side-Tracker of Mission, Setter of One's Mind on Human Things. Well, fear of pain and death will do that to most people, and Peter was no exception.

Having spoken to the disciples in Verse 31, Jesus now calls "the crowd" and teaches them explicitly what Peter had understood implicitly before: Those who want to be followers of Jesus must follow him! That is, they must go with him where he is going. They must share the consequences of his way. They, and we, must find the courage to put our money where our mouth is; to be true to our values, and to make choices that are worthy of the Gospel, knowing that pain, loss and death will be an unavoidable consequence.

In a very ordinary, middle class, Canadian way, it is actually very easy to understand what Jesus means by losing our life while we have been busy building it. Career burn-outs, mid-life crises, and marriage break downs all testify to that.

But just exactly how do we turn that around and "lose" our life so that we don't just lose it, but get it back? The key, I think, is to not mentally skip over the crucial qualification: "for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel."

Okay, so just how does one lose one's life for Jesus' sake and for the sake of the gospel? That, I think, takes a life-time to answer, and is best done in a community of friends seeking the same thing for themselves. But at a minimum, it means recognizing that there is no pain-free way to live, and finding our life will mean saying, "No," to false hopes for happiness.

Verse 38 kind of returns to poor Peter since the opposite of loyalty to someone is being ashamed of them. Peter's earlier rebuke of Jesus was breaking his loyalty to Jesus; done openly and in public, such a rebuke would have shamed Jesus. Jesus' comments here are not a threat; they are a simple statement of logical consequences.

There are some significant challenges in this passage for those of us who seek to be faithful / loyal followers of Jesus. Especially for those of us in established ministries.

This text challenges us to see everything that we acquired to date as mere preparation for what is to come; preparation that we must be completely willing to lose in order to save the purpose for being here at all.

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

* Link to Amazon.com Bibliography for Bruce Malina, et. al., Social Science Commentary on ... The Synoptic Gospels; The Gospel of John; The Book of Acts; The Letters of Paul; The Book of Revelation; and others. 

Permission is granted for non-profit use of these materials.
Acknowledgement in oral presentations is not required.
Otherwise, please acknowledge source as, "David Ewart, www.holytextures.com."

The prediction of his suffering and rejection by the religious authorities is actually not rocket science, nor does it require any special divinity on Jesus' part. Given the exalted status now being attributed to Jesus by the people, and given his challenge to the authority of the elders, chief priests and scribes, everyone alive then would know that this could only end badly.

The prediction of his resurrection is a different matter. That adds a whole new, completely novel twist.

As the one who proclaimed the new honour status of Jesus in Verse 30, Peter is quite unnerved by Jesus' teaching in Verse 31. In Verse 30, Peter was not only affirming a high honour status for Jesus, but was also affirming his loyalty to Jesus. And as such, Peter was also anticipating participating in sharing the rewards of Jesus' honour as Messiah. Although the teaching in Verse 31 is only about what will happen to "the Son of Man," Peter and the other disciples know that their loyalty to Jesus demands that they share this fate - just as they had earlier expected to share a quite different outcome. Peter would be surprised, shocked and made fearful by Jesus' teaching in Verse 31.

Peter rebukes Jesus. Jesus rebukes Peter. Calls Peter - or at least Peter's rebuke - Satan. That is, Tempter, Snake in the Garden, Introducer of Hesitation, Mixer of Motivations, Flaunter of Red Herrings, Side-Tracker of Mission, Setter of One's Mind on Human Things. Well, fear of pain and death will do that to most people, and Peter was no exception.

Having spoken to the disciples in Verse 31, Jesus now calls "the crowd" and teaches them explicitly what Peter had understood implicitly before: Those who want to be followers of Jesus must follow him! That is, they must go with him where he is going. They must share the consequences of his way. They, and we, must find the courage to put our money where our mouth is; to be true to our values, and to make choices that are worthy of the Gospel, knowing that pain, loss and death will be an unavoidable consequence.

In a very ordinary, middle class, Canadian way, it is actually very easy to understand what Jesus means by losing our life while we have been busy building it. Career burn-outs, mid-life crises, and marriage break downs all testify to that.

But just exactly how do we turn that around and "lose" our life so that we don't just lose it, but get it back? The key, I think, is to not mentally skip over the crucial qualification: "for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel."

Okay, so just how does one lose one's life for Jesus' sake and for the sake of the gospel? That, I think, takes a life-time to answer, and is best done in a community of friends seeking the same thing for themselves. But at a minimum, it means recognizing that there is no pain-free way to live, and finding our life will mean saying, "No," to false hopes for happiness.

Verse 38 kind of returns to poor Peter since the opposite of loyalty to someone is being ashamed of them. Peter's earlier rebuke of Jesus was breaking his loyalty to Jesus; done openly and in public, such a rebuke would have shamed Jesus. Jesus' comments here are not a threat; they are a simple statement of logical consequences.

There are some significant challenges in this passage for those of us who seek to be faithful / loyal followers of Jesus. Especially for those of us in established ministries.

This text challenges us to see everything that we acquired to date as mere preparation for what is to come; preparation that we must be completely willing to lose in order to save the purpose for being here at all.