Aug 13 2023 - Mark 8 - Not So Great Expectations

We are at the halfway point in the Book of Mark!

Lord, it IS all about You. It is not about us. When it is all about You, it is for our good – we get to experience the life You want us to live. It is hard to make it all about You – we all struggle – but help us to move forward in that – better today, than yesterday.

Mark 8:27 Then Jesus and his disciples went to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" (What are you hearing through the grapevine?) 28 They said, "John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets."

At this point – His ministry is like that of the prophets.

29 He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ."

This is one of the few things the disciples get right in the book of Mark! But don’t worry, it won’t take long to get it wrong again!

30 Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.

That is curious.

When it says He warned them – it is a strong warning – even translated REBUKE – like when Jesus rebuked the demon in Mark 1 – or the rebuke of the wind like last week.

You would think He would want everyone to know – why would He not tell them? There are two reasons:

First – the people living in the first century had a general misunderstanding of the Messiah – they were looking for a revolutionary and political leader who would deliver Israel from Roman rule. They were looking for a deliverer like Moses who delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. And Jesus would have none of that! He rejects that thoroughly and completely! It is not who He is – not what He has come to do – not what the Messiah is to do.

Second – He did not want to rush the religious conflict with the leaders. He had too much to do in His ministry – training disciples, preaching the gospel of the kingdom – so He wanted to have time – and if it is proclaimed that He is the Messiah, that will end.

31 Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

So this is Jesus’ first mention of His death – halfway point in the gospel – and He is focused on going to Jerusalem. To this point, the disciples knew nothing about this – and looking at this verse, Jesus preaches the gospel to the disciples. This looks a lot like 1 Cor. 15:3-4 – Paul’s summary of the gospel – Jesus suffers, is killed, and rises again. Son of Man – puts it all together – especially when we understand what Son of Man means – this is how Jesus identifies Himself. He never calls Himself the Messiah – always – Son of Man – an Adam. Not atom, but the name.

A human.

A couple – 3 things – this is a rich word – and there is so much here – and I apology for the next 5 minutes of Bible geek stuff – it is really cool! (Or, “What was he talking about!”)

He identifies as a man and shows solidarity with humanity – I am like one of you – I am with you. From a theological perspective – this talks about the incarnation – and speaks of the gospel – God became a man for the purpose of suffering and dying.

Turning to Hebrews – which connects in an amazing way:

Hebrews 2” 14 Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same (we are flesh and blood – so Jesus became flesh and blood!), that (why did He do that? Why did He have to do that? ) That through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil;

In becoming Human and dying – He defeats death and the devil. Victorious over both. Then:

17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, (It had to happen – He HAD TO – WHY?) that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Jesus became Human and died that He might destroy sin, Satan, and death.

Now the second aspect of this – in the Old Testament – looking at Daniel:

(How many of you were into prophecy? In the 60s and 70s talking about the beasts and who they were – empires of power – that is what these beasts are.)

Daniel 7:9 9 "I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire…

And it goes on – this vision – of what God’s throne looks like to Daniel…

13 "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away;

There are two thrones – and this Son of Man – and when Jesus calls Himself this – He is referring to this – a human being caught up in the clouds to sit next to the Father. This is Jesus’ Messianic identity – inheriting a kingdom.

For us, we look at this – one like a Son of man – we get this – we directly relate it to Jesus – but for Daniel – to think of a human sitting on a throne of an eternal kingdom – that would be out of this world.

Hebrews 1: 2 2 in these last days (God) has spoken to us in His Son, (What Hebrews will do – connect the Son of God and Son of Man) whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature (this is God in every way, shape, and form), and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

This takes us from the incarnation – Jesus’ life and death – and takes us back to Daniel! Do you want some extra credit – even if you don’t need it? Read Daniel 7, Hebrews 1-4, Psalm 110, and Psalm 2 – Read them all – put them together.

Jesus is with the High Priest – questioning Jesus -

Mark 14:61 Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?“ And Jesus said, "I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."

These guys knew Daniel 7.

Think of this – in our day of AI and VR – think of the throne room – the gospel is so big and incredible and yet we turn it into this religious thing. This is how Mark shared the gospel.

Third – Son of Man – was a rejection of the military expectation.

Mark 8: 31 Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke openly about this. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But after turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God's interests, but on man's."

Same strong word. Why did Peter rebuke Jesus? Why did Jesus rebuke Peter? Expectations.

Peter had the wrong expectations about WHO the Messiah was to be.

Peter had the same expectation as all first-century Jews – to lead the military expedition against the Romans. And Jesus is essentially saying – I need to nip this in the bud – your mind is on the human way of doing things.

For us today – are there expectations, views, positions – that we generally believe about Jesus and Christianity – that Jesus would rebuke – that Jesus would say – Get thee behind me Satan? That – your mind is on human interest – not God’s.

These are not evil thoughts for them – they had no other way of thinking – than for a Messiah to be a king to drive out the enemy. Yes, He was a king – yes, He had an enemy to drive out – but not what they were thinking. A lot of times – our problem is we get the wrong enemy to drive out – and we think we need to do it the wrong way – and we use the wrong methods and strategies. So, these are probably good things that simply aren’t God things.

Let me throw these out – and they will need qualifiers – I am learning

Firs t- the Self-help guru Messiah – Qualifier – Jesus wants to transform our lives – but there is this self-help Christianity thing that is flawed. Like, Jesus gives our best marriage now, Financial freedom, problem free parenting – but that is not the focus of discipleship – and to be honest – there is no such thing as problem free parenting!

Second – Euphoric Spiritual experience Messiah. Let me qualify – we will all have some amazing experience with God – but those are God’s doing in God’s time – but cannot be manufactured or fabricated on Sunday morning. God has to do that – or at some conference – God has to do that – or at a retreat – God has to do that. It is not an on-demand thing where can push the button and it happens. We look for self-help – and experiences – and that is good – but it is the seeking of those things that cause us to not seek God and not be a follower of Jesus.

Third – the Tranquil-Life Messiah – I was going to use the life of serenity – But the serenity prayer is really good – Serenity means tranquil, calm, untroubled.

We are to be people of peace – we are to experience the peace of God which surpasses comprehension. But Jesus is clear that that peace is found in turmoil and trouble –

We are called to conflict – as disciples – we are called INTO conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil – that is just what our lives are to be like.

Jesus redefines discipleship – just like He redefines Messiah -

34 Then Jesus called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wants to become my follower (which we all do – that is why we are here!), he must deny himself,

Step one – denying yourself is not self-denial. It is not giving up necessities or simple pleasures. If you enjoy your morning coffee – and someone says – deny yourself! That is not what Jesus was talking about – nor was He talking about a life of austerity. Now, it is true that we will be called, as Christians – to fast, sacrifice, or suffer – -or to be called into a simple life – but that is different from the ascetism of sacrifice for sacrifice sake.

In telling us to deny ourselves - Jesus is telling us to renounce claim of ownership. We belong to God – He is our master. We are His. We belong to Him.

What we WILL renounce are selfish desires, selfish ambition, self-centeredness, and self-promotion. That is very different than giving up necessities and simple pleasures.

This also does not mean that we don’t practice self-care – physical, emotional,

take up his cross,

That does not mean – bearing patiently our aches and pains. We should do that – but that is not what it means to take up our cross. In context – it meant capital punishment – to die. He is calling the disciples – He just told them that He is going to die – and He is calling them to follow Him even to death on a cross. All but one of them will be killed for Jesus – and the one that didn’t had to live through a lot of suffering until he is old.

For us – our lives are not at risk for following Jesus. There are people in this world who live with that daily. But Jesus also set an example for us in going to the cross that we could, metaphorically, go to the cross.

Luke says – Daily –

And Philippians 2 – Self-giving sacrificial love. How do we do that daily? First – in your family – what does it look like for you to have self-giving sacrificial love? What does it look like for me – at work, in church, on social media?

Then -

and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.

So, discipleship is living in the Great Reversal. What we think is not what it really is – it is a great contrarian adventure. Lose it? Save it! Save it? Lose it! Cease living for selfish ambition. Lose selfish interest. And then we find it!

36 For what benefit is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his life? 37 What can a person give in exchange for his life? 38 For if anyone 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."

Now, when we say – I am not ashamed of the gospel – it is not afraid of the gospel – it is not ashamed of worshiping a God who died on a cross – for us, the cross is kind of a heroic thing. It was NOT a heroic thing. It was shameful. We understand it as heroic from our vantage point – but for the disciples, it would make no sense.

For us – it works out by living and speaking the truth of the gospel that is the simple way we follow this. We live the gospel daily – and when God gives us opportunity – we speak the gospel as it comes up. And that truth is the gospel we speak – and we don’t add things to it. It is the simple message we looked at at the beginning – and that is all! The truth of that – that is what we speak up for. Don’t bring other things into it that distort it – Make it ONLY that!

We live in a world that is extraordinarily complex and confusing – there are battles and confrontations everywhere! That movie – Everything, Everywhere, all at Once – that is what our world is like – the title, not the movie. It is everything, everywhere, all at once.

We need to care about a lot of things – and we need to offer kindness and grace in a lot of situation – there are a lot of things we need to engage in without question – but our best and only strategy – as Christians, is to be gracious humble sharing of the cross of Jesus as God gives us opportunity. The focus is on the cross. And that is an all-terrain strategy – and that strategy works if you are living in a socialist, communist, or capitalist society. It works whether you are in a left-right, or centrist society! It works if you are in a Christian, Muslim, or atheist society. It works everywhere in society. It is the only one that does!

Lord, thank You that we have this incredible message You have given us – this story – this reality – of this Son of Man being brought up into the clouds to sit next to the Father on the Throne – and all those beasts of this world that just collapse under the weight and submission to the One who became Human. In Your name we pray.