Mark 8:31-32 “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” NIV
Have you ever told somebody something that they didn’t want to hear? This is the extreme version of one of those moments. Imagine this scene. Jesus has just completed taking the disciples through an exercise in discovery. He has led them all to the dramatic conclusion that He is the Christ, the long awaited Messiah. Imagine their hearts bursting with this revelation and this sense of destiny. It is certain that every tradition, all the mixture of legend that surrounds a promise that has been awaited for centuries, is now flooding their minds and here they are positioned as primary leaders in this new Messiah’s coming kingdom, or so they think!
Each one of them had been raised on the stories about that day when the Messiah would come. Each one had probably filled their mind at times with the possibilities or deliverance from Roman rule, of the hope of a new independent and powerful kingdom for Israel like in the glory days of David. Here they are now standing in the presence of promise. They can see themselves in triumphant procession with Him, each one imagining their own position of greatness. We know this was in their hearts because of their arguments over who amongst them was the greatest. Their focus was on the promotion and blessing that would come to each of them because of their affiliation with the Master.
Jesus is so good and confronting the vain imaginations in our hearts and replacing them with a kingdom minded reality! He has given the disciples very little time to enjoy the rush of self-importance that is flooding their minds as they let the knowledge that He really is the Messiah take root in their hearts. Jesus wastes no time transitioning to a new topic that shatters their idealistic imaginings. Verse 31 tells us that shortly after concluding His lesson on His identity, Jesus crushes all of their false thinking by shifting to the topic of His destiny. They have been picturing a glorious king. Their minds have been filled with cheering crowds, victorious conquest, Roman overthrow and Jesus replaces all of that with a new image. In place of cheers He warns them of jeers, in place of victory He describes suffering and death, in place of Roman armies vanquished and fleeing, He describes Roman soldiers with hammers in their hands, nailing Him to the cross. And vanity is blown away like spilled flour on a windy day.
Verse 32 describes Peter’s reaction. I am sure that ours would not have been that much different. Peter is compelled by this abrupt shattering of their false perceptions to try and correct Jesus. Perhaps the master is being melancholy. Peter is so moved by His concern for Jesus that He pulls Him aside. Peter would never correct Jesus in front of others. And so Peter begins to rebuke Jesus. The question is, is Peter really concerned about Jesus or is He speaking in a panicked reaction to the shattering of his false dreams. It seems that all of the fantasy that has been accumulating in Peter’s mind is so upended by this announcement of Christ’s sufferings that Peter doesn’t really know how to act or what to say, so he begins to fight to hold on to these lying thoughts as the pain of losing them becomes too much to bear. This is how most of us are when confronted by painful truth. Are we ready to let the Lord tear down our religious fantasies and allow Him to replace them with the sobering realities of a life of sacrifice, a life of true surrender to the cross of Christ? Jesus did not call us to Himself to bring about our personal fame and prominence. Jesus calls us to the cross. He calls us to the valley of service and the Garden of surrender where we yield as He did to the Father’s plan and declare “not my will, but yours be done.”
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