Mark 8:27-26

Opener

Passage:

Mark 8:27–30 ESV

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Up to this point, most have misunderstood Jesus.

They have been slow in understanding and had hard heart. Responses of faithfulness to Jesus have been few and irregular, But when faithfulness has been found, it has surprisingly come from “outsiders”

from an unclean woman (5:25–34),

a Syrophoenician woman (7:24–30),

and a deaf and mute Gentile (7:31–37)

Jesus true Identity - being God

Narrator Mark 1:1

God Mark 1:9-11

and Demons Mark 1:25, 3:11, 5:7

But no humans

Caesarea Philippi

Map

The city had been refurbished by Philip and named in honor of Caesar Augustus, who ruled the Roman Empire for fifty-seven years (Josephus, Ant. 18.28; War 2.168).

It was also the site of two painful memories to Jews.

It was in Caesarea Philippi that a decisive victory over Egypt in 200 b.c., causing Palestine to fall plunged the whole region into twenty years of war following the Maccabean Revolt in 168 b.c.

The city was also famous for its sanctuary to Pan (from which the city gained the name Caesarea Panias).

Half man and half goat, Pan was revered as the guardian of flocks and nature and worshiped in a grotto at the foot of Mt. Hermon next to the cave from which one of the three major tributaries of the Jordan River gushes forth.

It is here in the outer regions of paganism and even hostility to Judaism that Jesus is first proclaimed Messiah!

An unlikely place for the first proclamation of Jesus as Messiah, for its population was chiefly non-Jewish and pagan.

This required Peter to see with spiritual eyes, not natural eyes

How can we learn to see with spiritual eyes and not natural eyes?

Jesus asks 2 questions

Who do people say I am?

It is usually less daunting to venture the opinions of others than to risk declaring our own thoughts.

others think of Jesus in a rand from sympathy to hostility

Jesus wants his disciples to think for themselves

They need to separate themselves from the majority and risk personal confession.

There is a difference between judgment and confession: we may be instructed by the judgments of others, but the declaration that Jesus is the Christ depends on a believer’s personal confession.

How have others judgments helped you?

How have others judgments hurt you?

Who Do you say that I am?

From outsider to insider

The disciples are asked to render a judgment about who he is

Can they see his remarkable divine authority, which they have witnessed and experienced.

There judgment cannot be decided by collecting more evidence and data, or by further deliberations, observations, discussions, and explanations.

The disciples must move from the status of passive recipients to active participants.

At some point the colleagues of Jesus—and everyone who has heard his name—must look deep within Jesus and deep within themselves and risk a decision that will entail either a commitment to or a severance from the person and mission of Jesus.

We are all Christians

Have you had defining moments where you feel a true deceleration/confession of Jesus?

Jesus has not rushed this moment. - not exactly sure how long the disciples followed him, but we know what is coming next - suffering and crucifixion.

Jesus will give you time, but there dose come a choice.