B, Pentecost 16 Proper 19 - Mark 8:27-38 "Jesus' Love and Death of Peter"

Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”  And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”  And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. (Mark 8:27b–30 ESV)

Why did Jesus charge the disciples to tell no one about him?  This seems to go against the proclamation of the Gospel.  He came to be the Christ and now that they had learnt enough to know Jesus was the Christ, they are not allowed to tell anyone. 

This is peculiar.  Here in the Gospel of Mark it’s the first mention of Jesus being recognised as “the Christ”.  So why does Jesus immediately seek to shut down word getting out that he is the Christ?

Jesus’ language recorded here in Mark is a strong rebuke.  It’s not just a casual suggestion but a stern warning not to speak. In the same way Mark reports Jesus rebuking the demons in Mark chapter one, he admonishes the disciples not to tell anyone he was the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ!  Why?

The answer reveals itself in what happens next. 

“And he (Jesus) began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.  And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’” (Mark 8:31–33 ESV)

First Jesus rebukes them not to tell anyone about him. Now he rebukes Peter in the harshest way calling Satan, literally the accuser, to get behind.  How could Peter proclaim Jesus as the Christ when he was influenced by Satan to accuse Jesus’ explanation of the Christ as being wrong?  After Jesus says not to tell anyone about him being the Christ, Peter rebukes Jesus speaking of his anointing through suffering, rejection, death and then resurrection.

There was nothing inside of Peter that could have prepared him for that kind of Christ.  All the ideals and presumptions Peter had of the Christ were wrong.  Not only did they come from his human spirit as well as the expectations of a Jewish community in waiting; but as Jesus reveals, it came from Satan himself!

There is only one place from where true faith and understanding can come!  And this is from God himself.  It must come from the divine holy work of God! 

It was God the Father who provided Jesus so he could be the Christ.  It was Jesus, Son of God, and Son of Mary, who would do, and has done, the passive work of being anointed as the Christ.  And it’s God the Holy Spirit proceeding from God the Father and God the Son who reveals the Christ to us and within us as he opens the word to us and within us.

All tongues need to be silenced, and Jesus needed to send the Holy Spirit to reveal and teach before anyone could proclaim the Christ. The generations from Adam to Abraham, from Moses to Malachi, time and time again proved that following God by one’s own effort was not doable. Peter was no different, nor were the disciples, and even today we need to be taught why Jesus needs to be the Christ that he is. And we the Christian chuch he needs us to be.

Jesus’ love for Peter required Peter’s death.  Peter didn’t understand this; nor did he understand what Jesus being “the Christ” entailed.

This picture of Peter stands in stark contrast to the same Peter of many jokes who stands guard and meets people on their arrival at the pearly gates of heaven.  Unfortunately, most of these jokes portray the wrong idea of what it is to be a Christian and therefore represent a Christ that is not what Jesus Christ is all about. The following seems to do the same but with a twist at the end.

There was a man who died and went to heaven and met Peter at the pearly gates.  Peter says to the man, “This is the deal.  You need to acquire one hundred points to get into heaven.”  The man thinks then says, “I went to church regularly.” Peter replies “Ok that’s two points.” “Oh” says the man, “that’s not many! Then he says, “I was faithful to my wife for fifty-two years”, thinking, “that should get me a few brownie points.”  “That’s another two points”, replied Peter.  “Well, I tithed and volunteered every week of my life”, the man expectantly says hoping for a big addition to his score.  “That’s another point”, says Peter.  “What!  At this rate it will be only by the grace of God that I get into heaven”, the man retorts in exasperation!  “Spot on sir”, says Peter, “That’s one hundred points!  Come on in!”

A silly joke yes!  But it captures the essence of what it is to be a Christian and what it isn’t.  Also, it points to something other than our works that allow us entry into heaven.  And it helps us focus on the function of the Christ; what Jesus allowed happen to him for him to be the Christ; that the generations before and since are not able to do.

The grace of God sent Jesus to the cross.  The grace of God raised Jesus from the grave. And by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit comes revealing, through the cross and death, Jesus as the Christ.  Jesus is the only one anointed to be the Messiah, the Rescuer of humanity.  And to this end he reveals in his word through the Holy Spirit what it is to be a Christian. 

“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he (Jesus) said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  For what can a man give in return for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’” (Mark 8:27–38 ESV)

I imagine the crowd not having much of a clue to what Jesus was referring when he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  They knew the cross to be a barbaric punishment of death meted out by the Romans and they also knew from the Law in the book of Deuteronomy that anyone hung on a tree was cursed (Deut 21:22-23).  However, they did not know this was to be the way the Christ was to redeem humanity, beginning with the Jews.

But we do!  And still, we like Peter, those before him, and many since, still fail to grasp just what the Christ is and therefore, who we are as Christians.

Enter 2020 and Covid-19 and our inability to worship the way we use to.  Perhaps we have been spoilt or even deceived in the past believing we need our ideals of community and friendships to be church. 

The reality of the Christian Church is that we are community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ, alone.  Jesus rebukes all community based on anything other than him. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, martyred by the Nazis at the end of World War Two wrote: 

Just as surely God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great general disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves. By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world. (Life Together: 26,27)

What does this mean?  Regardless of how good our intentions might be, if our community is based on yours or my desire, it’s a wish dream.  And like Jesus putting Peter’s desire to death, he calls us to the same death, by saying to us, “Get behind me, Satan.”   And he does so because so often what we believe to be church is not what Jesus knows as church.

The good news in this is Jesus’ death and resurrection! In him putting Satan behind us, the Holy Spirit puts Christ before us!  Indeed, within us!  He did it in baptism and he continues to renew us in him daily as we allow the death of sin within though confession, and Holy Spirited belief we are forgiven.  This is forgiveness realised by faith in the word of God where God reveals his promises to us.

Perhaps in this time of isolation you might be led into a deeper sense of community in your time alone with Jesus Christ in his Word. 

Jesus’ love of Peter required Peter’s death.  Jesus Christ’s love for the church requires the death and resurrection of the church in him.  Jesus love for you and me requires his death, and our death, so we can pick up our cross and follow him.  Our love for others requires our death to self so we can pick up our cross and lead others to Jesus the Christ. Let us pray:

Dear Heavenly Father send you Holy Spirit into our hearts so we can deny ourselves, pick up our cross, follow Jesus the Christ, and be his messengers of forgiveness and love even in these days of lockdown and isolation. Amen.