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Have you ever been in a situation where you have been so right, but so incredibly wrong at the same time?
This week when I asked my wife Bek for my own example of this, she simply said: “Sam, I don’t keep records of wrongs”. I thought to myself: “What a wonderful wife”.
There are plenty of moments where we’ve been so right, but so incredibly wrong-aren’t there? Whether it’s overconfidence in your sense of direction; a DYI fix it disaster, cooking without a recipe, assuming you know the plot twist, or thinking you know what someone’s about to say, or just overthinking a gift.
We all have these moments.
This morning/evening, as we come to the turning point of Mark’s gospel, we see a follower of Jesus get it so right, but so wrong. So right, but so wrong! I think that Mark uses this awkward moment of misunderstanding, rebuke, and correction to show us how to get it completely right. How to avoid getting it wrong!
So far this term, we’ve been journeying through Mark’s gospel. As we’ve followed the story, we’ve been meeting Jesus (yes), but we’ve also been meeting some of Jesus’ followers. Along the way, Mark has been using these characters to give us a picture of what it means to follow Jesus rightly. At various moments, there have been positive and negative examples to learn from. There are extraordinary decisions to leave everything to follow Jesus (cf. Mark 1:18; 20; 2:14), but also countless moments of fear, faithlessness, confusion, and spiritual blindness (cf. Mark 4:40; 6:52; 7:18). Bit by bit, Mark has been painting a portrait of discipleship-of what it means to follow Jesus.
This morning/evening, Mark continues to paint that portrait. What Mark will show us is that we’re getting it right when we confess Jesus to be the Christ. But, we’re getting it so incredibly wrong if we refuse the cross. Instead, true followers of Jesus are those who confess the Lord Jesus Christ and embrace both His cross and their own.
As we’ll soon discover, there is a lot at stake if we get this wrong.
In our society it should come as no surprise that we value life. Whilst some value life more than others, we generally accept that it is better to be alive than to be dead. We know deep down that nothing is as valuable as life itself, we cannot put a price on life. We love life. We desire life. We need life. We want more life!
In this part of the story, Mark shows us that life, real and significant life (beyond this one) is at stake. For Jesus himself says:
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.
This morning/evening, whether we’re a follower of Jesus, or not yet a follower of Jesus, life is on the line! So, let’s get this thing right!
1. Confess the Lord Jesus Christ and embrace the cross
So, how do we get the Christian life right without being incredibly wrong? Well, (1) we confess the Lord Jesus Christ, (2) we embrace Jesus’ cross, and (3) we embrace our cross.
1.1. Confess the Lord Jesus Christ (v27-29)
In verse 27, Jesus and his disciples are walking to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. They are travelling through a non-Jewish region which was influenced by Roman rule and pagan-religion.1 As Jesus walks along the road, he raises the issue of his own identity.
27b On the road 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.” (Mark 8:27b-28)
The popular opinion is that Jesus is a prophet. Regardless of which exact prophet, the crowds clearly see Jesus as a significant spiritual figure!2 He’s someone who was chosen by God to speak the oracles of God.3 This is not small thing! And yet still, Jesus suggests that this opinion, this confession, falls drastically short.
In verse 29, Jesus presses the matter further.
29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” (Mark 8:29)
Peter gets it right, doesn’t he? I mean it’s only taken a few healings, a few miracles, and supernatural events-but hey Peter made it! He confesses Jesus as the Messiah (the Christ!).
The Messiah, translated as “the Christ”, means “anointed one”.4 It’s a title used to designate a person that’s been appointed by God for a specific role, particularly a king.5 In the Old Testament, the Messiah was a promised royal figure, sometimes called “the Son of God” or “the Son of Man”, whom Israel was expecting to come and to set up a kingdom here on earth. The expectation was that the Messiah would be a superhuman and transcendent being who would overthrow human powers, like that of Rome.6
And Peter finally gets it right! Jesus is not merely “some man” (cf. Mark 2:7); or “the teacher” (cf. Mark 4:38); or “the carpenter” (cf. Mark 6:3), or a “prophet” (cf. Mark 6:15)-no Jesus is “the Christ”. He’s God’s anointed chosen King.
1.1.1. Application and Synthesis
Whether we’re a follower of Jesus or not yet a follower of Jesus, this is something we need to get right. Like Peter, we all need to recognise who Jesus is. If we’re going to find life, if we’re going to do the Christian life right, we need to confess (and go on confessing) Jesus as the Christ.
When I was at university, I was given a copy of Josh McDowell’s book, More Than a Carpenter. In this book, McDowell shares his story of faith. He recounts his attempts to disprove Christianity through rigorous investigation that led him to confront the overwhelming evidence for Jesus. It’s the story of a skeptic turned committed follower of Christ. McDowell lays down the challenge:
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher… You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse”.
Here in Mark, he raise the question for all us-But what about you? Who do you say Jesus is? Teacher, madman, or Son of God, the Christ. If were to find life, we need to confess and go on confessing the Lord Jesus Christ.
1.2. Embrace the Lord Jesus’ cross (v30-33)
So, how do we get the Christian life right without being incredibly wrong? Well, (1) we confess the Lord Jesus Christ, and then (2) we embrace Jesus’ cross.
At this point, Peter’s right. But following Peter’s confession, things quickly go from right to seriously wrong.
In verse 30, Jesus warns his disciples, telling them to keep his identity a secret for the time being. You see, they’re on the money. Then, in verse 31, Jesus openly teaches them about what must happen to the Christ, the Son of Man. It’s not what Peter learnt in Sunday school!
31 Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things 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 Jesus spoke plainly about this, but Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
Peter pulls rank. He tells Jesus off! Peter’s treating Jesus like his own disciple. He will not embrace the idea that the Son of Man must suffer, be rejected, killed, and raised. “Sorry, you’re wrong Jesus!”.
But why is Peter finding this so hard to embrace?
Well, when Jesus uses the phrase “the Son of Man”, he’s referring to a vision from the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. In Daniel 7:13-14, the Son of Man comes into God’s presence “with the clouds of heaven” and “is given authority, glory, and sovereign power” to defeat evil powers (cf. Daniel 7:13-14a).7 He is the one whose “dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away” (cf. Daniel 7:13-14) “All nations and peoples worship him!” (cf. Daniel 7:14b). It’s a vision of an eternal King with an eternal Kingdom.
But here, Jesus is spreading the word, telling his disciples that the Son of Man “must” actually go to the cross. And Peter will not have it!
In verse 33, Jesus puts Peter in his place.
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.”
“Get behind me, Satan!”. Could you imagine being called that? You’ve been following Jesus all this time, watching him oppose evil powers, and he calls you “Satan”.
Jesus gives Peter this name because of what Peter’s doing. In this moment, Peter is “an adversary” “an opponent” “a satan” to the things of God.8 Peter is doing something that is typical of Satan, he’s taking the Word that’s sown away from those who are “on the road/path”.9 He’s taking away the word of the cross so that it won’t get into anyone’s hearts! For Peter’s mind is set on on a King who would defeat Rome, not on a King who would suffer and die and rise.10 Peter is refusing Jesus’ cross.
1.2.1. Application and Synthesis
Whether we’re a follower of Jesus or not yet a follower of Jesus, this is something we need to get right. In this moment, we cannot be like Peter. We cannot refuse Jesus’ cross. Instead, we must see the necessity of the cross. We must embrace the divine “must” of the cross.
As followers of Jesus, I think that one of our temptations can be to downplay, ignore, or even deny the necessity of the cross. In our church culture, we can become so accustomed to hearing about Jesus’ death and resurrection that slowly but surely the word of the cross can seem a little powerless and even a little foolish. Over time, we can lose our grip on the necessary of the cross in both our churches and our lives. Instead of coming back to Christ’s death in our place for our sin bearing the punishment we deserve, we can look to other things to appease our conscience. Instead of holding out the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection, we can let other things take centre stage; or be the attractive glue; or be a solution we only speak about every now and then. It can be easy to refuse Jesus’ cross in varying ways. It’s easy to get this wrong.
Whilst Peter gets it so incredibly wrong here, eventually he gets it completely right. In his letter, Peter writes this about the cross of Christ and all its beauty:
“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed. For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:23-25)
Peter came to embrace the cross. That in Christ’s death, he bore our sin. That in Christ’s resurrection, he gave us life. That by the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ brings us wandering sheep back to God.
1.3. Embrace your own cross (v34-38)
So, how do we get the Christian life right without being incredibly wrong? Well, (1) we confess the Lord Jesus Christ, (2) we embrace Jesus’ cross, and then (3) we embrace our own cross.
After this awkward encounter with Peter, the Lord Jesus begins to teach about what it means to follow him. In verse 34, Jesus addresses the crowd, calling them embrace their own cross.
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.
At this point, I’m not sure if anyone wanted to be Jesus’ disciple. If we were there, we would’ve received this as a literal call to “join Jesus on the way to execution”.11 To go on on a shameful “death march” with Jesus to the cross.12 This is a call to complete and utter self-denial, isn’t it? This is the ignoring of the self. A refusal to recognise the self. A literal denial and death to the self.
So why would anyone want to be Jesus’ disciple? Why would anyone want to follow him? Well, life is at stake.
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.”
Here Jesus gives a basic cost-benefit analysis.
Gaining the whole world means nothing if we lose true life in the process. Following Jesus may cost us everything now, but it leads to eternal life and future glory when He returns. The choice is clear-live for ourselves and lose everything, or give our lives (even our physical lives) to Jesus and gain life forever.
There is shame and death for those we don’t embrace their cross, but there is life and glory for those who do.
1.3.1. Application and Synthesis
Whether we’re a follower of Jesus or not yet a follower of Jesus, this is something we need to get right. The temptation will be to downplay, ignore, or even deny this reality-that there is a cross to carry or a cost to bear; or that the cross is too heavy and the cost is too great.
Take it from me, sometimes we just want the costs to be within our pre-determined limits. It can only be for a short time, a portion of our lives, but certainly not the whole thing! Take it from me, sometimes we want following Jesus to be less and less about losing ourselves. Instead, we want to keep some bits of ourselves, and only change other bits.
But if we’re going to find life, if we’re going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross and into glory, then we must “deny ourselves” and “take up our cross” today.
To embrace your own cross is not a one-time decision-it’s a moment by moment call to die to self. It’s a radical abandonment of one’s own identity and self-determination. As others have said, “It is not the denial of something to the self, but the denial of the self itself”.13 It is death to self. It’s certainly not the hatred of oneself or the harming of oneself-but it is the renouncing of our supposed right to live our own way.14
In other parts of the New Testament, Mark’s very literal language here, is picked up as a metaphor to describe the Christian life. The Apostle Paul himself writes to the Galatians and says:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)
“Those who belong to Christ have crucified their sinful flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24)
To embrace your own cross is to be crucified with Christ and to go on crucifying our own sinful passions and desires. It’s a daily death to sin. It’s a life of ongoing crucifixion that has no ending point in this life. As so many have said, it is a “cruciform life”.15 A cross-shaped life.
Is it hard? Yes! Are there easier things to do? Yes! But are there more profitable things? No-because life and glory are just around the corner.
This morning/evening, we’ve come to the turning point of Mark’s gospel, we see a follower of Jesus get it so right, but so wrong. Yet Mark shows us this so that we might get following Jesus right-completely right.
We get it right when we confess the Lord Jesus Christ and we embrace the cross-his cross and our cross. As we confess Christ and embrace the cross, we find life and future glory.
As we come to the Lord’s supper. This is what we’re going to do. Confess Christ and embrace the cross.
Endnotes
1 Collins, The Gospel of Mark, Volume 62, 400.
2 France, The Gospel of Mark, 329.
3 Matthews, Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets, 624-632.
4 Bird, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, 115.
5 Bird, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, 115.
6 Mackie, The Bible Project: Mark, 1; Bird, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, 115.
7 Evans, The Dictionary of the New Testament Background, 704.
8 Collins, The Gospel of Mark, Volume 62, 407.
9 Collins, The Gospel of Mark, Volume 62, 407.
10 Collins, The Gospel of Mark, Volume 62, 406.
11 France, The Gospel of Mark, 339.
12 France, The Gospel of Mark, 339.
13 Best, Following Jesus: Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark, 37.
14 Stott, The Cross of Christ, 323.
15 Gorman, Cruciformity, 198.
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