BAD NEWS THAT IS GOOD (Mark 8:27-33)
INTRODUCTION:
The question that must be answered by every person, the most important question anyone can ever answer is, “Who is Jesus Christ?” Why is it so important? Because a person’s response to this question determines their eternal destiny. Those who brush Him off as a good teacher, or a moral example, or maybe even acknowledge that He is a prophet of God but fail to recognize who He truly is will face divine judgment. Those who acknowledge Jesus Christ for who He truly is will embrace Him in faith and will be saved from divine judgment and will look forward to a glorious eternity in the presence of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All four Gospel accounts repeatedly teach that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. The Gospel accounts were written for this very reason to prove that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
This question as to who Jesus is forms the heart of this passage. The disciples have been with Jesus for more than two years now. From the very beginning they had hoped that He was the promised Messiah. Over the more than two years that they had spent with Jesus the disciples had been amazed by His authoritative teaching, they had been astonished by His supernatural power and they had been aware of their own sinfulness in contrast to His divine perfection. In this passage the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, and the Son of God goes from hopeful expectation to heart-fixed certainty as the apostles through their spokesman Peter state this truth with greater conviction and confidence than ever before and doing so within the framework of widespread confusion among the crowds and ever-increasing hatred and hostility by Israel’s religious leaders. This passage is not only the center point of Mark’s Gospel, but it is also the climax and the conclusion of Jesus’ training of the Twelve. That training had increased and deepened over the previous months, as the Lord withdrew from the crowds in Galilee and took His disciples to more remote and even Gentile areas where He was not as well-known for the purpose of training and discipling them without the pressure of the crowds. This passage might be looked at as their final exam, an exam of only two questions.
One commentator stated, “From the perspective of Peter and the other disciples, this passage also represents the ultimate emotional trauma: the highest high followed by the lowest low. Peter’s confession about Jesus marks the Christological apex of Mark’s gospel, while his subsequent confrontation of Jesus was met by the most stinging reprimand any believer could ever receive.”[1] Let’s pray and then get into our passage for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Mark 8:27-33, our passage for this morning. If you are able, please stand, in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Mark 8:27-33,
“Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ They told Him, saying, ‘John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.’ And He continued by questioning them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And He warned them to tell no one about Him. And He 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 was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.’ ” (Mark 8:27–33, NASB95)[2]
PETER’S CONFESSION (Mark 8:27-30)
If you remember from two weeks ago, Jesus had healed a blind man outside the village of Bethsaida. Jesus went out from there along with His disciples. They traveled north of the Sea of Galilee, traveling a distance of about twenty-five miles to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, located near the ancient Israelite town of Dan. Caesarea Philippi was about 40 to 50 miles southwest of Damascus in present day Syria. The city was located at the foot of Mount Hermon, near a large spring that fed the Jordan River. Originally, the city was named Paneas, after the Greek god Pan, a mythological half goat, half man who was famous for his flute playing. When Philip, the Tetrarch inherited the territory from his father, Herod the Great, he enlarged the city, making it the capital of his territory. In A.D. 14 he renamed it Caesarea in honor of Caesar Augustus. To distinguish it from Caesarea Maritima, located west of Jerusalem on the Mediterranean coast, the city became known as Caesarea Paneas or Caesarea Philippi, in honor of the Tetrarch Philip. The city itself was mostly populated by Gentiles and was filled with pagan idols. Jesus journeyed this way avoiding Galilee, getting a reprieve from the overwhelming crowds and from the hostility of the religious leaders, and out of the territory of Herod Antipas and any threat that he might be.
Mark tells that as they were on their way to the villages of Caesarea Philippi Jesus begins their final exam. As I already mentioned, this was a two-question exam. The first question was concerning human opinion about the identity of Jesus; the second sought for the truth of who He is. Mark writes, “He questioned His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ ” (Mark 8:27b, NASB95)[3] By using the plural word translated “people” Jesus was not referring to the Pharisees, or Sadducees, or any other religious leader, but to the uncommitted multitudes who flocked to hear Him teach and especially to see His miracles. Jesus already knew what the masses thought of Him, but He wanted His disciples to fully comprehend the contrast between perception or opinion and the truth.
The disciples immediately began to answer Jesus, giving Him the varied opinions of the people. They told Him that some like Herod Antipas believed that He was John the Baptist raised from the dead, others believed He was Elijah, whom God had prophesied would come before the great and terrible Day of the Lord. But others thought He might be one of the prophets of old, like Jeremiah, whom Jewish tradition said he would return with the ark of the covenant at the establishment of the Messiah’s kingdom. This is what popular opinion was concerning the identity of Jesus despite the countless miracles that He had performed in their presence that all testified as to who He was, the people still did not believe in Him. They knew that He had supernatural power and authority, and because of this believed Him to be a prophet like Elijah, or Jeremiah, or John. Much of this opinion stemmed from their understanding of who the Messiah would be according to the religious leaders of the day who taught that the Messiah would be a military deliverer who would overthrow the pagan occupiers from Rome and establish His kingdom in Israel, because Jesus did not present Himself as that political deliverer, they refused to embrace Him as their Messiah.
After hearing their answers, Jesus gave His second and final all-important question. Mark writes, “And He continued by questioning them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ ” (Mark 8:29, NASB95)[4] The word “you” here and in the two parallel passages in Matthew and Luke, is emphatic. When Jesus had asked the first question it was simply an educational exercise for the disciples to see if they understood what the people who flocked to hear and see Him believed about Him. But this follow-up question got to the heart of the matter. Nothing was more important than how they answered this question.
The disciples, like all first century Jews, had been raised with the expectation that the Messiah would overpower Israel’s enemies and establish His kingdom in Jerusalem. When it became clear that the religious leaders had rejected Jesus and that He would not use His miraculous power to defeat Rome and overthrow Israel’s oppressors, the disciples must have wondered if Jesus truly was the Messiah. This same expectation caused John the Baptist to question Jesus concerning His identity. In Matthew 11:2-3 we read, “Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, ‘Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?’ ” (Matthew 11:2–3, NASB95)[5] Jesus responded to John by pointing to His miracles, which clearly demonstrated that He was the Messiah. As John’s example shows us, even the most faithful Jews struggled to overcome their preconceived beliefs of what the Messiah would be and do.
Even though they had been raised to believe that the Messiah would be a political deliverer, in stark contrast to the popular opinions of their fellow Jews, the disciples’ response was one that every believer knows to be true concerning the identity of Jesus, that truth is that He is the Messiah and He is the Son of God. Peter speaking for all of the disciples as He often did, answered and said to Jesus, “You are the Christ.” Mark gives us an abbreviated version of Peter’s answer, Matthew gives us his full answer in Matthew 16:16, “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ ” (Matthew 16:16, NASB95)[6] It is worth noting that this is only the second time in Mark’s Gospel that the title “Christ” is used, the first was in the opening verse. Christ is from the Greek word that corresponds to the Hebrew word from which we get the word Messiah. Both words mean “anointed one.” This is a royal title; it was used in the Old Testament to refer to the divinely appointed kings of Israel and later came to refer specifically to the great deliverer and ruler whose coming was eagerly anticipated by the Jewish people. Peter with clarity and great conviction, and without any doubtfulness or wavering, proclaimed Jesus to be God’s supreme “Anointed One,” the Savior of the world. After being with Jesus for more than two years, the disciples doubts about Jesus had vanished. The fact that Jesus was the Son of God, and the Messiah were firmly anchored in their hearts and minds. To be sure, they would still exhibit times of failure and weakness, but they had come to know without doubt that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, God incarnate.
This truth, this conviction concerning who Jesus is was not of their own doing. We do not have Jesus’ response to Peter here, but Matthew records Jesus’ response in Matthew 16:17, “And Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’ ” (Matthew 16:17, NASB95)[7] Jesus was saying that the disciples could take no credit for this theological breakthrough of faith. They believed only because the Father had drawn them, the Son had revealed Himself to them and the Holy Spirit had opened their blind eyes to the truth. With their minds and hearts full of faith and the certainty that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God, the disciples must have been eager to spread the news about Jesus. But the Lord warned them to tell no one about Him. The word translated “warned” refers to a strong admonition or a stern rebuke. Jesus’ insistence that they keep His identity secret was most likely to suppress the wild enthusiasm of the multitudes. Jesus knew that His work was not yet finished, and because of this the gospel message was still incomplete. The disciples must not go into the world and preach the gospel until it was complete, not until after His death and resurrection. So that the disciples might understand His warning and the motivation behind it, Jesus began to speak to them about what was going to happen to Him in the months ahead.
PETER’S CONFRONTATION (Mark 8:31-33)
The disciples through Peter had declared that they believed that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God. It must have come as a shock that on the heels of this grand revelation and this moment of great conviction that they would hear Jesus announce His upcoming death. This announcement must have devastated them. They knew that Jesus was the Messiah, but they could not imagine that He would suffer and be killed.
Mark writes that Jesus began to teach them about His death, in other words from this point forward His death would be a repeated theme of His instruction to them. Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man, a name He applied to Himself more than eighty times in the Gospels, it was a title that pointed both to His divine messiahship and His humanity.
As Jesus began to tell the disciples what would take place in the months ahead, He explained to them that He must suffer many things. By using the word translated “must,” Jesus was teaching His disciples that the torments He would endure were an unchangeable part of the Father’s plan and purpose for Him. Though Peter did not grasp this truth at this moment, he would later come to clearly understand and proclaim in his first sermon in the book of Acts that Jesus was “… delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” (Acts 2:23, NASB95)[8] The cross was not an accident, it was part of the divine plan of salvation determined by God in eternity past.
The suffering that Jesus would endure meant that He would be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. The religious leaders of Israel, the so-called experts of the Scriptures, would reject their own Messiah. They would put Him through a mock trial, turn Him over to the Roman authorities and unjustly and hatefully bring about His execution. Jesus had previously spoken about His death, but He had always done so in a veiled way. In Matthew 12:40, He told the Pharisees, “for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40, NASB95)[9] When Jesus had cleansed the temple and was questioned by the temple authorities, He declared to them in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19b, NASB95)[10] Mark tells us that Jesus was stating the matter plainly to His disciples. In other words, no more word pictures, but plainly and with a level of clarity that could not be misunderstood.
As you can imagine this news of His impending death sent the disciples reeling. They were convinced that He was the Son of God, but now they struggled with God’s plan. In their shocked state they either completely missed or badly misunderstood the part about the resurrection. Possibly they thought Jesus was referring to the final resurrection on the last day. The disciples had no concept in which the Messiah, the Anointed One of God who would bring salvation and blessing to Israel and the world, would be rejected and killed by the very people He came to save. The disciples like most of their fellow Jews had inherited misinterpretations of familiar Old Testament passages that predicted that the Messiah must suffer and die. Passages like Psalms chapters 16, 22, and 69; Isaiah 53; Zechariah 11:12-13, 12:10. Even though these passages predict the suffering and death of the Savior very clearly, the disciples were stunned by Jesus’ announcement of His death.
In resistance to what Jesus was plainly telling them, Peter went from being a spokesman for God to being a mouthpiece for Satan. Mark writes, “And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.” (Mark 8:32b, NASB95)[11] This is incredible, a former fisherman has the audacity to contradict the Creator Himself, the One he had just identified as the Messiah and the Son of God. Rather than humbly submitting to His sovereign Lord, Peter confronted Jesus with a stinging rebuke. Matthew records what Peter said in Matthew 16:22, “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’ ” (Matthew 16:22, NASB95)[12] Mark uses the same word translated rebuke here as the word used to speak of Jesus’ strong admonition to the disciples not to tell anyone that He is the Messiah. The word implies a level of authoritative judgment from a superior to someone under his command or oversight. Not only did Peter disrespectfully elevate his own authority above Jesus, he also directly contradicted the redemptive purposes of God. What Jesus had said must take place; Peter boldly insisted would “never happen.”
Peter had been shocked by Jesus’ announcement of His impending death, but it must not have even remotely compared to what Jesus said to him next, it must have shaken Peter to the core. Mark writes, “But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.’ ” (Mark 8:33, NASB95)[13] The parallel passage in Matthew 16:23 adds that Jesus also said, “You are a stumbling block to Me.” (Matthew 16:23b, NASB95)[14] The fact that Jesus turned around for all the Twelve to hear suggests that Peter was expressing what all of them were thinking. They could not accept that their Lord would suffer and die, but only Peter had the rash boldness to actually confront Jesus about it. Because they were all thinking this, they all needed to hear Jesus’ rebuke. Again, Mark uses the same Greek word for rebuke that he has already used two times.
On the surface what Peter did appears noble, his reaction was motivated by the thought that the Lord and Messiah whom he loved would be rejected and murdered. Besides this they had all come to depend on Him, how could they go on if He were taken from them? By rebuking Jesus, Peter, beyond forgetting his place, put his own selfish desires above the plans and purposes of God. The short-sighted disciple needed to be reminded that God’s plans surpass human reasoning. The disciples did not fully understand God’s plan, but Jesus was operating in perfect obedience to the Father’s will.
When Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan” it must have felt like Jesus struck him with a deathblow. By opposing the purposes of God and demanding Jesus avoid the cross, Peter had actually become a spokesman for the devil. The Lord Jesus understood that the plan of redemption and the path to glory required suffering and death. Because He understood this, He would not yield to any temptation that promised a kingdom without the cross. He refused to put a desire of personal comfort above His submission and obedience to His heavenly Father.
Remember how intensively the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry, it is important to understand that Satan’s attacks did not stop there. According to Luke 4:13 after the forty days ended, Luke says, “When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.” (Luke 4:13, NASB95)[15] In other words, Satan was continually looking for opportunities to tempt Jesus. Peter’s confrontation with Jesus provided Satan another attempt to tempt Jesus. Satan knew that the cross would spell his downfall and defeat. Satan was willing to try anything to overturn God’s plan of redemption. Praise God that Jesus never gave in to those temptations.
CONCLUSION:
Peter overstepped his place, allowing Satan to use him that day near Caesarea Philippi, but he would soon come to understand and cherish the cross deeply. Less than a year later, on the day of Pentecost, he would boldly stand in Jerusalem with the other apostles and proclaim the gospel of a crucified and resurrected Messiah. As Peter was nearing the end of his life, he wrote two little epistles to believers in Asia Minor. Peter explained the glorious significance of the crucifixion in 1st Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;” (1 Peter 3:18, NASB95)[16] What the disciples considered to be the ultimate bad news on that day near Caesarea Philippi was, in reality, the best news the world has ever received. It was the very heart of the plan of redemption. When Jesus spoke of His death and resurrection He was giving the full gospel message. By dying and rising again on the third day, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, paid the full penalty for sin and by His resurrection He conquered death, sin, and Satan, so that all who believe in Him might have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NASB95)[17]
[1]MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Mark 1-8. Chicago, IL : Moody Publishers, 2015.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[16]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[17]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.