Peter Nails It
The text this week is Mark 8:27-38. This passage sees Jesus at Caesarea Philippi with the disciples. It is notable because this is a rather vile place, built by Philip the Tetrarch, the son of Herod the Great. This city served as his capital. So it was both the seat of an unjust government and represented the worst of those Jews who collaborated with Roman authority. It is spelled out in more detail in the Matthew 16:13-20. In that account is the famous statement that Peter is the rock upon which Jesus will build His church. Here however, it is simply Jesus asking Peter “who do people say that I am?” (Verse 27). Peter nails the answer in Verse 29 “You are the Messiah”. Pure, simple faith.
Peter Blows It
Peter then turns around in the next section and faceplants. Jesus explains what He must go through to fulfill His Father’s will. Peter actually rebukes Jesus, as it is clear he cannot accept this fate for the Messiah. Jesus then tells Peter to “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things”. That’s our Peter, going from hero to goat in three verses.
Yet, what I love about Peter is the everyman quality about him. I have long thought him much like the everyman character from our own age, Charlie Brown. Peter is often the blockhead of Scripture. What is endearing about this is the fact that we are as much blockheads as he is. We, like Peter have difficulty accepting that Jesus died such a shameful death. We do not even have Peter’s excuse of not knowing how the story turns out. It is still often beyond comprehension that Jesus would suffer and die a shameful criminal’s death.
It is All So Unreasonable
Even in our age we struggle to reconcile this earthly fate of Jesus with the majesty of God, and God’s Son. I think that is why so many long for a Charles Bronson-like Jesus to return and be massively pissed off. That is manifestly not the God we follow. Jesus did suffer this shameful earthly fate. He did really die. We do need to remember the awfulness of the crucifixion, there is no getting around that. Yet, we must hold more firmly in our mind that He conquered death and that in the end the attempt of Rome, and all other Satanic types to defeat God was for naught. Thinking they could defeat God is to set your mind on earthly, not divine things.
We, as fallen creatures, like Peter, tend to think that God should be above all that. Yet, the point is that He is not. God became man, in Jesus the Christ and experienced all that we do, right up to death. It is the life, death, and resurrection that places withing us the faith that puts us right with God, and assures our salvation. The awful, unreasonable realization is that Jesus needed to suffer as a part of God’s plan. He did so for us, and for our salvation. While we are all too tempted to focus on earthly things, we must endeavor to refocus on this divine reality. Believe in that, and obey accordingly.
Praise Be to God
