The Great Confusion - Mark 8:27-34 Series

Mark 8:27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way 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." 29 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

31 He 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.

32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 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 things of God, but the things of men."

34 Then 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. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his 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 him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Introduction

Imagine you’re in seminary and you have agonized over your theology books for three years, and now it’s time for oral exams. You do the section on Christology—who Jesus is, and you ace it—100%. You’re so relieved, you’re beaming with joy, the professor praises you for absolutely nailing it, and 90 seconds later announces to the class you are satanic and tells you to get out of his sight. If that happened to you, you’d have a little bit of an idea of what it was like to be Peter in Mark 8.

We come tonight to what’s probably the most important passage in the gospel of Mark. When we tell a story, the climax is usually at the end. But the Jews would very often put the climax in the middle. And that’s what Mark did. Mark is the easiest gospel to outline—just cut it in half. It has 16 chapters—the first 8 are part 1, the last 8 are part 2. And the middle, where we are right now, is the climax of both halves. This section has been called the Continental Divide of the book of Mark. This is the peak where everything turns and starts flowing in a different direction. Everything in the first 8 chapters points forward to today’s passage. Everything in the last 8 chapters points backward to this passage. If you get this passage; you get the book. Miss it, and you miss the whole gospel.

And more importantly, if you miss half of it—either half, you miss the whole gospel. That’s the main point of the passage, and it’s the part many people miss—including Peter. In v.29 Peter finally gets part 1 right, and it’s Peter’s greatest moment. It’s known as the Great Confession: “Who do you say I am? … You are the Christ.” Right on Peter—you nailed part 1; you know exactly who Jesus is. Then, 4 verses later, Peter gets Mark part 2 wrong and look at Jesus’ response:

33 … Jesus rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!"

Whoa! When Jesus Christ calls you Satan, that’s not a C-. That’s an F. a big time fail. Is that offset by the fact that he got an A on part 1 (You are the Christ)? No. What we see in this passage is even if you get an A+ on part 1 of Mark, still, if you miss part 2 you might as well be the devil. And that’s a startling truth because there are millions who get part 1 right but not part 2.

Okay, so let’s dig into this passage and see if we can get more than half of it right so we’re not on the devil’s team.

The Great Confession

Mark 8:27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi.

That’s a pagan city at the far north end of Israel. This is the furthest Jesus ever gets from Jerusalem.

Contrasting Answers: “a” vs. “THE”

27 … On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"

That is not a normal question. I have never in my lifetime heard anyone ask that question. Think about it. What if I asked you, “Who do people say I am?” “Um, Darrell? Who else would you be?” Put this question in anyone else’s mouth and it makes no sense. But with Jesus, it was so obvious that he was a supernatural figure, everyone had a theory to explain his miraculous power.