Jesus reveals himself

Jesus travels as far north as possible and still be in the “Holy” Land of Israel. The area of Caesarea-Philippi, about 40Km north of Lake Galilee. It is far away from the temple and the priests and Pharisees in Jerusalem. It is outside Herod Aggripa’s Tetrarchy of Galilee, is however in his half brother Philip’s Tetrarchy, and the city of Caesarea-Philippi is Philip’s capital. Our scripture today refers to Jesus going to the villages of Caesarea-Philippi and not into the city itself.

Here we have three springs that in the first century were thought of as the source of the Jordan River. Just to the north is Mt Hermon, the mount of transfiguration.

Here Jesus is not well known, it has a low population density with a very low ratio of Jewish people to Gentiles. There are indications earlier in Mark that Jesus wanted to get away from the crowds to a quiet place before the coming storm of his passion breaks on them, he desires to share who he is and what his calling involves with his disciples.

Our reading today opens with them walking along somewhere in this region. Jesus (as a rabbi) would have his disciples close to him, a far larger group was following.

Jesus asks the disciples a question, “who do men say that I am?” This gets a few tactful answers, Moses, Elijah, maybe the prophet.

So then Jesus asks the loaded question “who do you say that I am?”

It probably goes very quiet in this leading group, maybe they stop.

The disciples have probably been waiting for this moment. They have their suspicions, people they have met have asked them directly “is he the coming one?” Jesus up to now has sidestepped this matter, now they sense he is about to come clean.

Peter is the first (and last) to respond: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God..”.

And wonder of wonders Jesus confirms it. In Matthew 16 v 17 we have ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.

YAY, ...ALL their dreams are coming true

The one who will bring justice and peace, the one who will reign forever and never die.

Dreams sprung into the disciples minds, positions of power, luxurious feasting, being respected. Messiah is here, and for one giddy moment they revelled in it. Peter is ecstatic.

But Jesus as he has a habit of doing, takes a very large needle and pops the bubble.

He gets really serious and commands, “Don’t tell anyone about me!

They all know from its tone that he means it.

Silence, confusion. A collective “whaaatttttttt??!!” emoji appears over the group.

Jesus speaks openly and plainly. Yes, I am Messiah, now this is what it means:

He goes to Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12 and explains the suffering servant and his death.

This is where I die at the hands of the chief priests. Ps118:17-23, Ps22:1-22.

After 3 days I will rise again

(the disciples were so shocked that they probably didn’t fully hear this part, it has to be repeated over and over.)

This is too much for Peter, his dreams of Messiah are being shattered. He got the previous question right but Messiah being executed never entered his wildest nightmares. This is as far as he hears, he reacts and steps out of his expected role as a disciple. This is the personal role of a friend.

Mark here focuses our attention on the actions of the people involved, Peter takes Jesus aside and began to rebuke Jesus. As Peter does this Jesus turns and looks back at the disciples. I wonder what he saw? Shock, bewilderment about what has been said, approval (or disapproval) of Peter’s action?

Whatever he saw and perceived, we know from Mark and Matthew that Jesus responds immediately. He rebukes Peter, calling him “adversary” (that is the underlying meaning of satan.

So here Peter is called out for opposing Jesus call as Messiah. Jesus effectively says “You are now opposing me and my Father, now get in behind Peter”.

Immediately Jesus calls the crowd together. He did not magic up a rent-a-crowd, neither was it sometime later. This group had followed him at a distance from Galilee. A couple of them are referred to in Acts by name, some of the women provided for him on his travels.

To this wider group he issues a challenge starting at verse 34 “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” In the Greek here there is a link back to the “get in behind” command to Peter.

I often look at these final verses with dread.. What is being asked of me? I can’t pay that price...

Jesus here is addressing his loyal dedicated followers. He loves them. As he looks at them they feel that love.

What appears to be a set of requirements of people who would follow him is a sketch of his own life of following his Father.

“let them deny themselves” Jesus denied himself a normal life, he chose the life of a wandering teacher.

“take up their cross and follow me” He had a literal cross looming large in his immediate future, and would not be deflected from that path.

“For whoever would save his life will lose it” Jesus chose to follow the path laid out is scripture for the Messiah, knowing it led to his death.

But knowing also that “For whoever would lose his life will save it” and that his trust in his Father’s faithfulness would bring resurrection and new life for not just himself, but all the human race.

“For what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his life” the devil (diabolos - slanderer) had already tempted him with this when he offered Jesus all the kingdoms of this world, Jesus told him to “Go adversary, for it is written “you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve”. (Math 4:8-11)

Note that the “Go” here, it was not “get in behind”.

The way that Jesus maps out for his followers is a path that he is walking. He is not asking his followers to do something that he hasn’t done.

He says this to his followers on a lonely road somewhere in northern Israel, “follow me, watch me go through my Calvary”. As you watch you can have confidence that when you to encounter difficulties in life and times that the cost seems so high, you will know that I have walked through difficult times also. You will be able to trust me to lead you at that time.”

So to us, here in the backwater of Newlands. Is he saying, “get in behind, watch me walk my pathway to Calvary by reading my word. As you see what happened you can have confidence that when you also encounter difficulties in life and times that the cost seems so high, you will know that I have walked through difficult times also. I can lead you guys to, will you trust me?”

There is also the giddy heights of some absolutely joyous happening in your life, only to have it crash and burn to the depths of despair when an unforeseen reality crashes the party. We may find ourselves, like Peter, telling Jesus what he should, or shouldn’t do. At these times of deep despair Jesus is also calling, come, follow me, or maybe, more coarsely but still with love, get in behind.

At the start of this we saw that Jesus was looking to spend time with his disciples. He still wants that for his followers today. For them it meant travelling with him to the source of the Jordan river, and to the Mount of Transfiguration. Today, as believers, will we make space in our busy lives for him and tap into him as the source of our lives.

If you don’t know him, today you can. He is here wanting to reveal himself to you, even as we come to a time of communion where we kneel at this altar, you to can express a desire to follow him.