Urgency pt9
The question of "Who do you say Jesus is?" is followed closely by "How does that change my life?" Far too many of us stop at the answer to the first and neglect the second. Jesus doesn't allow us that option. If He is Lord, then He is in control of all of us.
The predominant idea is that Jesus was someone who had returned from beyond the grave with superhuman powers (Lane 1974:212, 290). There was clearly no consensus about who Jesus was, and the line between biblical traditions and superstition or magic was not clearly drawn in public opinion.
Faith is a judgment about Jesus, and a willingness to act on the judgment in the face of other possible judgments. Indeed, for the disciples at this point in the Gospel faith will necessitate a choice contrary to the prevailing consensus of crowds and religious leaders
This is the first of three predictions of Jesus’ death and resurrection in the middle division of Mark (also 9:31; 10:33–34). They indicate that Jesus foresaw his death and resurrection. The first, following as it does immediately after the confession of Jesus as the Messiah/Christ, also shows what kind of Messiah Jesus is.
The word for “rebuke” (Gk. epitiman; see further at 4:39) is customarily used for rebuking demons, that is, the worst and most ultimate form of evil. The use of this word with reference to Peter’s rebuke of Jesus indicates the degree of Jesus’ error about suffering messiahship in Peter’s mind.
His denunciation of Peter is so strong that we have to wonder what justifies it. After all, Peter had just answered the question of who Jesus is with insight and perhaps courage. What had Peter done to be called Satan? And of all people, why call Peter Satan? The best answer is that he was acting, unwittingly, in the role of Satan. The last time the word Satan appeared in this Gospel was in the explanation of the parable of the soils, where Satan comes to take the word away (4:15). That is what Peter did here. As soon as Jesus began to speak about his messianic role, Peter rebuked him, as though to take away the word.
To deny oneself is not to do without something or even many things. It is not asceticism, not self-rejection or self-hatred, nor is it even the disowning of particular sins. It is to renounce the self as the dominant element in life. It is to replace the self with God-in-Christ as the object of affections. It is to place the divine will before self-will
To deny oneself is to accept God’s point of view about life, which has implications not just for the Son of Man, but for everyone who is drawn to him
A wrong view of Messiahship leads to a wrong view of discipleship
The image of the cross signifies a total claim on the disciple’s allegiance and the total relinquishment of his resources to Jesus
When martyrdom ceased to be common, cross bearing properly became a symbol of following Jesus in sacrificial service. The concept should never be cheapened by applying it to enduring some irritation or even a major burden. It is closely related to self-denial, involving a willingness to give up everything dear in life and even life itself for the sake of Jesus. It is a willingness to suffer for Jesus and for others. Such a concept of discipleship is so radical that many contemporary Christians in the West have difficulty relating to it
In these parables Jesus invites us to look at human life from God’s point of view. We take a step forward if we admit that life belongs to God. Even that admission, though, does not take us far enough, for the assumption of these parables is not just that our lives are in God’s hands, but that they are already forfeit. The disturbing question of 8:37, Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? is built on this premise. According to Jesus the only real choice we have is how we give our lives up. We can try to save them ourselves and lose them, or we can give them up for his sake and the gospel’s and save them (8:35).
That is not a modern view of life. In a world where the one with the most toys at the end of the game wins, we typically think that the way to save our lives is to hang onto everything that comes within our grasp. That we could save our lives only by giving them up is not immediately compelling. We might give away something we could afford to do without in a gesture of enlightened self-interest, but giving up ourselves in pursuit of God’s will is quite a spiritual stretch for materialistic people
The one for whom the way of Jesus is more important than his own existence will secure his eternal being; but the one whose existence is more important than Jesus will lose both Jesus and his existence.
When confronted by the call to discipleship, disciples do not have a “both … and” choice—both Christ and their own lives. They stand before an “either … or” choice. The claim of Jesus is a total and exclusive one. It does not allow a convenient compartmentalization of natural life and religious life, of secular and sacred. The whole person stands under Christ’s claim