The Gospel of MarkSample

Jesus asks His disciples two questions: Who do people say I am? And Who do you say I am?

Jesus was aware there were a lot of different things being said about who he was, but more importantly Jesus wanted to know individually, who they knew Jesus to be?

Jesus makes very clear his mission for being here: “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.” Mark 8:31-32a

This was the necessary work of the messiah, predicted in Old Testament passages like Isaiah 53:3-12. He must die and He must rise again.

I believe it’s not a coincidence that Jesus had just asked his disciples who they believed that he was. Peter answered correctly when he said that Jesus is the Messiah!

But for most people and also for Peter, their idea of who the Messiah would be and more so what He would do was wrong. For them, the Messiah was a symbol of strength and would rescue them as a nation and from the political power of Rome. They were oppressed and looking to be rescued from their circumstances. Their idea of a Messiah was a leader who would take control, overpower, and take political power through strength and oppressing their enemies.

Tomorrow we will look more closely at Peter’s response.