Mark 8:31-38
Jesus Predicts His Death

³¹He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. ³²He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
³³But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
³⁴Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵For whoever wants to save his life^[3] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Here is the first time, in Mark, that Jesus speaks of his death to his disciples. Peter, who in yesterday's passage had proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, now rebukes Jesus for speaking of his death. The parallel passage to yesterday's reading in Matthew 16 reads as follows: ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,^[2] the Son of the living God."
¹⁷Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter,^[3] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades^[4] will not overcome it.^{[5] 19}I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be^[6] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^[7] loosed in heaven." (NIV)

Now Jesus addresses Peter as Satan, recognizing that the words Peter speaks defy the plan that God has for the salvation of the world, namely his death and resurrection.

It seems ironic that Peter, who was given such blessing in Matthew 16:17-19, could speak the words of the devil in the next passage. One minute Jesus is telling him he is the rock of the church, not to be overcome by Hell, that he will have the keys to the kingdom of heaven, that whatever he binds on earth will be bound in heaven, and the same with loosing.

This reminds me of our own fickle natures. One minute we may be singing God's praises, one in the Spirit with him and other believers, and the next minute we may be unjustly criticizing someone, being petty, or even indulging in outright sin. God recognizes both sides of our nature--he blesses us when we seek him, and rebukes us when we stray.

Sometimes the blessings are not easily apparent--and we may even have to wait until we get to heaven to receive them. And sometimes it seems we may get away with sin in our lives, because we blind ourselves to the destruction we cause when we stray from the love of our heavenly Father. I want to be sensitive to the voice of God--to seek his blessings and turn away from things he would rebuke. Even when the teachings of the Bible are hard--as these words of Jesus must have been to the disciples--I hope I can see the truth and follow Jesus even when it's difficult.


- posted by Suzi @ 8:59 AM