The Messiah’s Mission

The Messiah’s Mission

Mark 8:31-33

Ever since Jesus made His first public appearance, He’s been trying to reach the nation of Israel. He was their Messiah and e did everything He could do to convince them of that truth.

His miracles, His teachings, His compassion and His power were all clear evidence that the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament had appeared. Yet, when Israel saw Jesus, they refused to accept Him as their Messiah, their Lord or their Savior.

Jesus was rejected by the religious leaders in Israel.

He was rejected by the nation as a whole.

He was even judged to be a mad man by His Own family.

This total rejection is summed up in:

John 1:11

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

Even as Jesus was trying to reach Israel, He was also trying to teach His disciples. Jesus spent many months teaching them, displaying His power and revealing His identity to them in powerful ways. For the longest time, they were blind to His identity. Even though they saw Jesus heal the sick, cast out demons, control nature, multiply bread and raise the dead; they still couldn’t grasp just Who He was.

The disciples were like the blind man Jesus healed earlier in this chapter. When Jesus touched him the first time, he could see a little, but not clearly. Then, Jesus touched him again and his sight became clear.

Like that man, the disciples had a dim vision of just Who Jesus was. But the final connection was made and they finally understood Who Jesus was. Their statement of faith is summed up in Peter’s words, “You are the Christ!”

As soon as that connection is made, Jesus begins to teach His disciples what His mission is really all about. As Jesus speaks, He destroys their misconceptions about Who the Messiah is and what Messiah is supposed to do.

So, let’s pray, read our text and look at the Messiah’s mission.

Pray!

Mark 8:31–33 ESV

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 said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

The first thing we see is the mission revealed.

Mission Revealed

There is a definite contrast in tone between Peter proclaiming that Jesus is the “Christ” and words in our passage. The word “Christ” means “anointed one.” It’s the word that refers to the Jewish Messiah.

For centuries, the Jews had looked for God to send a Deliverer. They anticipated a great military leader who would defeat Israel’s enemies, restore righteousness to the land, and would purify and restore Temple worship to its ancient glory.

The Jews believed that this deliverer would achieve military strength and power. They were looking for a fighter, a revolutionary and an insurrectionist.

So, when came onto the scene preaching, teaching, healing and calling people to repentance; He wasn’t what the Jews were expecting their Messiah to be and rejected Him.

Yet, in this humble carpenter from Nazareth, Peter and most of the disciples recognized the Messiah. They believed that Jesus was the Christ, the fulfillment of the prophecies and promises. They fully expected Jesus to attack the Romans and deliver the nation of Israel from bondage.

What Jesus says here shattered every dream of conquest and liberty they cherished.

Jesus begins to teach them.

The word “began” suggests the fact that this was new information and Jesus was giving it to them clearly and plainly. He wasn’t using parables, there were no hidden meanings or riddles to figure out. He didn’t want them to misunderstand what He was telling them.

And what He says devastates all their preconceived notions of who the Messiah would be and what He would do.

Jesus reveals His mission to the disciples and it would do us a lot of good to hear it today.

Peter has just called Jesus the Christ. Now, Jesus doesn’t deny this title because He is the Messiah. But, when He speaks, He calls Himself the “Son of Man.” In a way, this is to remind us that He didn’t come into this world to live as a king. He came into the world to die as a slave.

Jesus isn’t contradicting Peter; He’s trying to open their eyes to the real purpose for His coming into the world.

He tells them that while they’re looking for glory, He actually came to suffer. Definitely, Jesus did suffer while He was here. He lived in poverty. He understood loneliness. He was a Man Who was rejected by most, hated by many and loved by few.

Isaiah 53:3 ESV

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Jesus tells His disciples that it will be the religious establishment who will be the most vocal of His opponents. When Jesus speaks of “the elders and the chief priests and the scribes,” He’s talking about the Sanhedrin. They were made up of seventy Jewish leaders and functioned as the Supreme Court in Israel, passing judgment on everything related to religion and everyday life.

This council was made up “elders,” these were influential lay leaders. The “chief priests” refers to the High Priest, former high priests, and the leaders of priests within the tribe of Levi. Most of these were Sadducees and were the theological liberals of the day. The “scribes” refers to the Pharisees who were on this council. The Pharisees were the religious conservatives.

The rejection by the Jewish leadership had already begun. On more than one occasion they had tried to find fault in Him with Jesus and rejected Him because of His refusal to provide a sign. Their final rejection came when they condemned Him to death and even as He was nailed to a cross, they would mock Him.

The watchmen of Israel would send Him to His death. The blind were truly leading the blind!

Surely the disciples had seen that opposition to Jesus was growing by the day. The fact that the Jewish leaders would reject Jesus probably didn’t shock them; but what Jesus said next must have left them speechless.

Jesus told them that He was going to “be killed!”

He lets them know that He, the Christ, the Messiah, would not only be rejected by Israel, He would also be put to death by them.

We don’t know how long this teaching session lasted, but it may have lasted quite a while.

And however He did it, Jesus took this occasion to show His disciples that the path of the Messiah would lead to His death. This was a concept that no Jew had ever considered and none could believe!

Jesus told them while He must die, He would also rise again from the dead. Yes, there was suffering, pain and death in His future, but there was also glory! He would pass through death and conquer death, Hell and the grave for all those who would believe in Him.

Of course, the disciples didn’t understand. They were so stunned to hear that the Messiah would be killed that they’re not capable of hearing that He will walk out of death as the eternal Victor over it.

In fact, they didn’t understand His teachings about the resurrection until after He had died and risen again. Then they finally got it.

Maybe what shocked them the most was the word “must.” All the things Jesus would endure were part of God’s plan for the Messiah. He would be rejected and die for several good reasons.

· It was God’s will

· It was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy

· It would satisfy the demands of God’s Law

· It was His Own will to die for sinners

That’s the Messiah’s mission.

But, before we leave this behind, let’s just stop and thank Him for the “musts” He had before Him when He entered this world. He willingly entered this world, suffered all that He did, died on the cross and rose again from the dead so that we could be saved!

Every step He took; every pain He suffered; every lash He endured; every single thing He ever did, He did for me and for you!

We see the mission revealed and next the message rebuked.

Message Rebuked

When the disciples hear Jesus talking like this, they’re speechless! His words go against everything they’ve ever been taught about Who the Messiah would be and what He would do for Israel. The idea that the Messiah, the Christ would actually die was more than they could comprehend!

Someone needed to do something! Someone needed to speak up! Someone needed to talk some sense into Jesus. And, Peter is just the man for the job!

32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

While the rest of the disciples stood there amazed by what they have just heard, Peter took Him aside. Maybe He put his arm around Jesus’s should and gently led Him away from the others so that he could rebuke Him, to strongly express his disapproval.

“Jesus You need to watch what you say! We know Who You are! You’re the Christ! Don’t be talking about dying, suffering and rejection! You should be talking about victory! We need a pep talk and not some discouraging sermon about death!”

Matthew tells us that Peter said:

“Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” (Matthew 16:22)

To Peter nothing could be more foreign than the idea that the Messiah might suffer and die. He just couldn’t see a cross in His future!

This problem isn’t unique to Peter. Many people have problems with the idea of a suffering Savior.

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

When a lost world hears about how Jesus suffered and died on the cross they pull back in horror. To them, the cross and the death of Christ suggests weakness and failure. They can’t grasp the truth that His death was necessary to provide salvation for those who would believe in Him by faith.

The death of Christ wasn’t a moment of weakness.

It was a moment of divine triumph! God accomplished something in those six hours on the cross that man hadn’t been able to do in thousands of years. God accomplished something through the shedding of the blood of Jesus that man hadn’t been able to achieve through the shedding of millions of gallons of blood from animals. When Jesus did on the cross, He forever paid for sin and provided a means of salvation for all who believe.

When Jesus died on the cross, one of the last things He said was “It is finished.”

This wasn’t the cry of a victim; it was the cry of a Victor. He didn’t say, “I am finished.” He said “It is finished!” What did He mean?

This phrase is actually a single word that means “to complete or to perfect.”

When Jesus died, He completed something. When He died, He perfected something. When Jesus died, He completed the plan of salvation and He perfected the way to God. His death satisfied every demand of God for sin. Anyone who will believe in Jesus will be born again and forgiven of their sins!

This was a common word then.

· It was used by slave who had completed an assignment given to by his master. He would report back, “It is finished!”

· It was used by an artist who had completed work on a painting. He would step back and say, “It is finished!”

· It was used by a merchant who had sold merchandise on credit when the bill had been paid in full. He would write in his ledger book, “It is finished!”

When Jesus died on the cross, He declared that God was satisfied and the way of salvation had been opened!

If we try to remove the cross and the suffering of the Messiah from the platform of salvation, the whole thing crumbles to the ground. There can be no salvation without the death of Christ on the cross for sin.

Do you know why people hate the message of the cross? It’s because the cross spells the end of human self-sufficiency! If we believe that we can only be saved by receiving Jesus and trusting His death and resurrection, we’re declaring our own helplessness before God.

Man loves his religion. Man loves to “do” something religious to earn favor with God. The only problem with that is the fact that nothing will give any person favor with God but the shed blood of Jesus. Its time people forgot about “do” and placed their trust in “done!”

The question is, is it finished in your heart? Are you saved? Have you looked to a crucified Savior and trusted Him for your salvation?

We see the mission revealed, the message rebuked and men reprimanded.

Men Reprimanded

Jesus responds to Peter’s scolding very harshly. He turns His back to Peter and looks at the rest of the disciples. They were probably nodding in agreement with what Peter had said.

Jesus looks at them all and rebukes Peter saying, “Get behind me, Satan!”

Get out of my sight you false accuser! You only care about worldly thing and not the things of the Lord!

When Peter tried to talk Jesus out of going to the cross to die, Jesus heard the voice of another speaking. He heard in Peter’s words the voice of Satan. In Peter’s mind, what he said made sense. To Jesus, the things Peter said revealed that Satan was using Peter to attack Him.

When Jesus was tempted, Satan came and tried to get Jesus to claim the glory of the kingdom without the agony and horror of the cross. Jesus rebuked the devil then and He rebukes the devil now.

Jesus isn’t calling Peter the devil. He’s pointing out the truth that Peter is speaking the words of Satan. He’s telling Peter that he’s being used as a tool by the devil. Jesus isn’t sending Peter away; He’s commanding Satan to leave.

Then Jesus tells them that their real problem is that they’re looking at His ministry through the eyes of men and not through the eyes of God. They were looking for power, glory and position. Jesus knew those things were in God’s plan, but only after He had suffered for sin on the cross. God’s plan involved the death of the Messiah and anyone who opposes that plan was doing the work of Satan!

This is the same man who just called Jesus “The Christ.” One minute Peter is declaring deep spiritual truth and the next moment he is doing the work of the devil!

There are a couple of things we need to think about here.

We’re often just like Peter.

We look at everything around us through human eyes. We only see how things affect us. We only care about our comfort, needs and desires. The will of God is a million miles away from our thinking. That needs to change.

· People care about the material; God cares about the eternal.

· People care about prosperity; God cares about holiness.

· People care about power; God cares about purity!

We’re like Peter in another way.

We’re weak and prone to failure as well. One moment we’re on a spiritual mountaintop, living for Jesus and walking in His will. The next moment, we’ve allowed sin to creep in and we’re fleshly and fallen. Have you ever been there?

All to often, we fail to see that there’s a very thin line between doing the Lord’s work and doing the devil’s work

One final thought: When a fellow believer has a “Peter Moment,” when they fail the Lord in a big way, the rest of us should help them get back where they should be with the Lord.

We all have our “Peter Moments” but that does not mean that our usefulness and effectiveness are at an end. It simply means that we need to pick up the pieces and move on for the glory of God!

What’s your reaction to the Gospel of Christ? When you hear about His suffering, His death and His resurrection, do you rejoice that He would do that for you? Do you embrace His death and the payment for your sin debt? Are you saved?

When you hear it, maybe you know you need to come to Him for salvation. You hear it, you believe it to be true and you know you should act on it. Come and He won’t turn you away.

Maybe you hear it and mock. Friend, you are on truly dangerous ground today! Come to Jesus and be saved!

Maybe you’ve had a “Peter Moment” and failed the Lord. Maybe it was a public failure; maybe it was just something that only God knows about. You crossed the line between serving God and serving the devil and you know you need to repent. There is no better time than now. He will receive you and He will forgive you.

Maybe you’ve realized today just how weak you are in Him. He can help you grow stronger.

Whatever needs may have been touched in your life today, if God has spoken to you, please come to Him right now.