The Gospel of Mark 8:31-38

 

Brian Hirvela

8/10/24

“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 was stating the matter openly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Jesus had just asked His disciples who people said He was and Who they thought Jesus was. And though many thought He was either John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets. It was Peter who confessed by the will of the Spirit of God that Jesus was indeed the “Christ, the Son of the living God.”

But let’s also be clear that those who followed Christ from the twelve to the large crowds didn’t have a clear understanding of who Jesus was. They were under the belief that Jesus was a temporal, earthly being sent by God to lead the Jewish kingdom out of the bondage of slavery under Rome and rule in the seat of King David.

Thus, when Jesus began to teach them openly “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.” This shattered their paradigm.

Peter, who loved Jesus, embraced Him, took Jesus aside and rebuked Him. “This was not the language of the least authority, but of the greatest affection, of that jealousy for the welfare of those we love, which is strong as death. Jesus allowed his disciples to be free with him, but Peter here took too great a liberty.” (M. Henry)

Peter's notion about the Messiah redeeming Israel through conquest led him to an earthly or fleshly response. He feared Jesus being killed even though Jesus was also teaching them that He would rise in three days. “The sign of Jonah.” He would be buried and three days later rise again.

But fear is a powerful motivator to make one cower or even submit to earthly powers. Thus, Jesus checks Peter for his opposition and rebukes him. But not in private, for He turned to His disciples and seeing that they all agreed with Peter, began to teach them the cost of following Him.

First, he corrected Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Peter’s actions were of man’s designs and understandings and not of Yahweh’s. And Christ knew what He had to do for Mankind in obedience to His Father. No man or angel would interfere with God’s plans.

“And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

To follow Jesus means that one must deny himself. This means you must renounce all your prejudices, errors, idolatry, and everything that concerns false religion; and separate yourself from friends and acquaintances. This is the new birth as you become a new person (1 Cor 5:17) born again by water and the Holy Spirit (Jn 3:5).

As Paul states in his epistle to Colossae “consider the members of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. On account of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.

But now you also, lay them all aside: wrath, anger, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you put off the old man with its evil practices and have put on the new man who is being renewed to a full knowledge according to the image of the One who created him (Jesus).” (Col 3:5-11)

Take up your cross, submit to the yoke of Jesus for He said, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.” And take up His cross, which not only implies a bold profession of Christ crucified but also a cheerful submitting to all the sufferings and persecutions to which a follower might be exposed, and even to death itself.

For the followers of Christ are blessed when “persecuted for the sake of righteousness and when people insult them and persecute them, and falsely say all kinds of evil against them because of Jesus for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and they will “rejoice and be glad, for their reward in heaven is great; for in the same way, people persecuted the prophets who were before them.” (Mt 5:11-12)

And follow Me. It’s not a “taste and see”, it is loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body.  The King James cites in well in Deuteronomy 10:20 “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.”

As Ruth declared to Naomi “Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD do so to me, and worse, if anything but death separates me from you."

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

For the price of your life is death. You want to save your life with your work you will die, “for all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment, And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, carry us away.” (Isa 64:6)

Or you can die now to Christ and live in Him (Ph 1:21), whose righteous deeds atone for our iniquities (1 Cor 15:3) and remove the fear of man (2 Tim 1:7) that we may proclaim Jesus and Him crucified and the Gospel of death, resurrection, and ascension.

“For whoever is ashamed of (Jesus) and (His) words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

This is what it means to follow Jesus. Count the cost. For when we come here and proclaim the truth of God’s word, we know we are at war with the devil who wants to bind people to his lies. As Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan” The ways of the devil are lies, from the fall of man in the Garden of Eden to today, the serpent says, “You can be like God, or Did God really say?”  

Jesus has conquered death and sin, and the Gates of Hell will not prevail for Jesus is King of all. Jesus came to save sinners. Sinners suppress the truth and hide in their darkness because they love darkness. They are unbelieving, vile, foolish, rebellious, haters of God who have adopted the ideologies of this world and the doctrines of men. They have become slaves to their sexual desires, perverting the flesh and mind, and rebelling against the created order of God. They are doomed to condemnation and will be judged by Jesus and sent to Hell where they will burn for eternity in the lake of fire.

However, God so loved His creation, mankind, that He sent His Son Jesus, who can forgive you of your sins and redeem you because He has the authority and power. Jesus brings eternal life to all who repent and believe. For Jesus bore all our sins; He bore all the sins of all who believe in Him. Jesus was born and lived a perfect life of obedience to God as a man. Jesus was condemned to be executed and die in the sinner's place. He suffered the totality of God's wrath upon Himself on the Cross, which every sinner deserves, so that those who believe in Jesus may have peace with God.

Jesus rose from the dead, conquering death, and lives, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and He is in your midst with us offering you salvation, repent, and believe Jesus.