Who Do You Say I am?
Mark 8:27-38
Before Jesus asks the disciple who they think he is, he asks them who people say he is? They respond by telling him that many think he is a prophet or perhaps John the Baptist. There are many ideas poking around wondering and projecting onto Jesus who he is. Jesus of course, knew all this. He knew the ideals and expectations that were being placed on him. He seems to refer to himself as the Son of Man as a way of feeding into this ambiguity. The son of man could be a term to refer to just a human being. It could also mean an heavenly being, or it could mean a specific heavenly being referred to in Daniel 7 to be the one that would come and redeem Israel at the consummation of God’s Kingdom.
In Texas, our jargon uses the term coke to refer to many different types of soda. If you went to a restaurant and ordered a coke, the server would immediately reply, “Which kind?” I learned rather quickly that if you order a coke in chicago, they will hand you a coca-cola… and not the sweet nectar of Texas– Dr. Pepper. This comical phenomenon of jargon highlights the very problem the disciples had with Jesus and his understanding of being messiah (being king).
We know that Peter had a very different understanding of kingship than Jesus. But to be fair, Peter was only voicing the common consensus among the people of Israel. And if we are willing to admit it- this is the same understanding of governing most have today.
When Jesus begins to tell the disciples that he will be hated and betrayed, beaten and crucified, Peter speaks up and speaks out against Jesus. But before we condemn Peter, we must admit that many, and perhaps including ourselves, do the same. We want a strong, no-nonsense leader. Someone who will regain glory and power for our people. Someone who will bring victory over our enemies and make them respect us once again. Peter was only doing what any of us would have done.
Jesus rebukes Peter because he knew what to call Jesus, but he didn’t know Jesus’ character. Many will and have come that know Jesus’ name and perhaps have spoken wonderfully about him. They might have given some of the best sermons, done some great things, or even filled that expectation of what influence and leadership are hoped to be. But Jesus tells us that on the day of judgement he will say to many, “I never knew you.”
Peter knew Jesus’ name, but Jesus knew his name as well. “Get behind me Satan,” he says. Why would Jesus elicit such harsh words? Like Satan, Peter knew Jesus’ name, but didn’t take part in his most vital command: “Follow me!” Follow me even to the cross.
Stanley Hauerwas writes, “To be a follower of Jesus it is not enough to know the basic facts of his life and believe them to be true. It is not enough to know his story and affirm it. Rather, to be a disciple of Jesus means that our lives must literally be taken up into the drama of God’s redemption of this creation. To follow Jesus means to adopt his story as our own, a story that teaches us how God’s rule in this world is constituted.”
The world and perhaps even those that know Jesus’ name will shout at us, ‘But that will never work! That isn’t how rule and authority work and function! It is complete foolishness!’ The disciple is one that takes up their cross in the midst of this and says, ‘Yes, but we know this is the way that Jesus, the Christ, rules the world… and we can’t help but follow him.’ And in this way they remember these words of Jesus:
“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.”
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