“Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do men say that I am?’ So they answered, ‘John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’ Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.” [1]
“Who do men say that I am?” Most religious people underestimated Jesus. God greatly anointed John the Baptist, Elijah, and the prophets for His service, but Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah. He is the only Savior of the world. Peter had this revelation. “You are the Messiah.”
“And He [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’” [2]
The disciples, including Peter, failed to see from the Scriptures that Messiah would suffer, be rejected, killed, and resurrected. For example, Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 foretell of the Messiah’s suffering and resurrection. Peter took Jesus to task over His words about suffering and dying, but Jesus rebuked Peter, and told Satan to get behind Him. Peter was concerned about what people what think of Jesus talking like this. Satan wanted to block Jesus from going to the cross. He did not want Messiah to redeem people from their sins. He did not want Messiah to show religious people the glory of a life lived for God and others. Jesus told Satan to get behind Him. In other words, “Don’t try to thwart My divine calling Satan!”
“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or 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, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” [3]
Jesus called a group of people together and said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me [be a Christian], let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” To be like Jesus is to deny self of what the world seeks after the most, namely, to be the popular center of attention. God cherishes the one who loses self for Messiah and for His message of redemption [the Gospel]. Jesus urges us His listeners not to be ashamed of Him amidst an adulterous and sinful generation. Yes, adulterous, and sinful people don’t want to hear from a denier of self for the sake of Jesus and His Gospel, but this is the kind of witness they need.
Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and to follow Him lest He be ashamed of us when He returns “in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
[1] Mark 8:27-30
[2] Mark 8:31-33
[3] Mark 8:34-38
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