These are very pivotal verses in the Gospel of Mark. Ever since Mark
“But what about you? Who do you say that I am?”
For me, this journey of 40D2D is about living out the question of who Jesus is in my life. It is not only a matter of answering the question, but living out the truth of who Jesus is through my life.
“You are the Christ.”
When the people were confused about who Jesus really was, Peter knew. He answers without hesitation that Jesus is Christ, the savior that they have been waiting for. But did Peter really know what he was saying? Because just a few verses later, he gets rebuked by Jesus for not “having in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Ouch.
That’s a challenging response for all of us as well. What do we really mean when we declare Jesus to be Christ? Do we also have in mind the things of God, or do we have in mind the things of people in our understanding of who Christ is and the effect of that truth for our lives?
“You are the Christ” must be a declaration of orienting our lives around the truth of who Christ. How? “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” How will we follow Him this day? How will we reflect who Christ is in the decisions that we need to make, in our interactions with others, and in the way we spend our time, energy and resources? The challenge is to live out the truth of who Jesus is through our lives.
4 comments:
There is a Peter in all of us. Brash and overly confident, we think we've figured out everything there is to know. But then reality hits, and our knowledge is tested. Peter assumes that he's got Jesus all figured out. But God has a way to bring everyone to their knees in humility. It's easy to be critical of Peter for his decision to take Jesus aside and rebuke him (Mark 8:32). Surely we would never do that. But really? Don't we do it all the time? I know I do it quite often. "God, are you serious? You expect our church to do what? Don't you realize we're not that rich? You want me to do what? Isn't there another way?" And that's when I realize I don't know all there is to know. I "do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." The challenge is to humble myself constantly and take up my cross and follow Christ wherever He leads.
I like the NLT's translation of verse 33. Jesus points out that Peter was looking at things from a "human point of view and not from God's." This is what convicted me as I was reading this passage. Do I look at the task of accomplishing God's mission from a human point of view? From God's perspective, the picture may look much different.
The question, "Who do people say I am?" was not asked because Jesus was insecure and he was trying to win a popularity contest. It is what we call a "set up" question for the real questions, "But what about you? Who do you say I am?"
The only way to answer this with any conviction in our hearts is by living out vv. 34-35. Without these verses we have what we see today - cultural Christianity that conforms to the world and seeks after comfort. Things like "denying" and "losing" are not easy things to do.
The challenge for me is to live out these verses daily. Then, my answer to Christ's question will match up with my life.
As I was meeting up with someone, the thing that we shared was about Peter's comment about Jesus having to suffer, and he rebuked Jesus. We realized that Peter technically didn't say anything wrong, and said what most if not all people would say. This is a very natural response if anyone we knew and loved was in trouble.
Following Christ is not a very natural thing and so that's why we need to be always immersed in the the Word. Following Christ is something that we need to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, and not something we can do on our own.
Post a Comment