Mark 8:22-38:
“Jesus Asks The Disciples Who He Is, Then After Peter’s Confession Begins To
Tell Them Plainly That He Would Suffer, Die, And Be Raised”
By
Jim Bomkamp
1.
In our last study, we looked at verses
1-21 of chapter 8.
1.1.
We looked at
Jesus’ miracle of the feeding of the 4,000.
1.2.
We discussed not
only how great this miracle was, but also what it means in our lives as
believers in Christ. We saw that the
disciples had not learned anything from the previous miracle of the feeding of
the 5,000 which we studied in chapter 6 of this gospel. They still did not realize that the Lord can
and will work in a miraculous way for the meeting of people’s needs. We discussed how that before we become
critical of these disciples, we need to take stock of ourselves and ask
ourselves how often we forget the Lord’s miracles? How often do we let the stresses and
pressures of life overtake us rather than simply looking to and trusting Him
for His provision in the midst of the things we go through?
2.
In our study
today, we are going to look at verses 22-38, and there we will see many things.
2.1.
Jesus heals a
blind man in a two phase miracle for the first time (the man is not completely
healed by Jesus initially), and we will look at why Jesus may have done this.
2.2.
Jesus will next
ask the disciples who people say that He is, followed by asking them who they
say that He is. Peter will make his
great confession of who Jesus is.
2.3.
Jesus will then
begin to discuss plainly the fact that He is going to suffer and die and then
be raised again from the dead. Peter
will then take Jesus aside and begin to rebuke Him for such a depressing
prophesy, however Jesus will rebuke Peter in the strongest possible way calling
him “Satan,” and telling him to get behind Him.
2.4.
Then, Jesus will
begin to explain to His disciples the hard and plain truth of what it involves
becoming a disciple of Christ. He will
say that one must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Him. We will discuss what this means.
2.5.
I am convinced
that at this point in time that Jesus is desperately wanting to finally get
some quality time away from the multitudes so that He can talk with them and reveal
to them the essential truth that they need to know. Up to this point in time, no matter where
Jesus and His disciples have gone people recognize them and flock to Him for
various reasons, whether for their own healing, the healing of a loved one, to
hear the wisdom with which He spoke, etc., etc.
Now, in our study finally Jesus will get alone with His disciples for a
little while and have that time with them He has desired. Jesus will head to an area that He has not
been before, one in which He will not be known, Caesarea Philippi.
2.6.
Jesus desires to
share with His disciples two essential truths.
They need to know “who He really is,” and also “what He really
came to do.” This is the same truth
that all people need to learn. In our
world today, “a vague faith is in vogue.” Its almost fashionable for those who call
themselves Christians to be very vague in the things that they believe. For many churches, their leaders are happy
just that they people believe “something,” and there is really no attempt
to clarify what it is that people believe.
But, this was not the case with Jesus, we see in our study that He was
very concerned that His disciples are very clear about who He was and what He
had come to earth to do.
2.7.
Peter will go
from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in almost a matter of
seconds. We will see in our study, that
when Jesus asks who the disciple think that He is, Peter answers this question
dead on: “You are the Christ.” In this statement, Peter declares the most
precise announcement yet about who Jesus is, and for that he is lauded by Jesus
because flesh and blood had not revealed that to Him but rather His Father in
heaven. Jesus even changes Peter’s name
because of his declaration and states that upon that rock He will build His
church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. But, then after Jesus declares immediately
afterward that He will suffer, die, and be raised from the dead, and Jesus
rebukes Peter for this statement, Jesus calls Peter, “Satan,” and then
tells him to get behind Him for he is not concerned with the things of
God.
3.
VS 8:22-26 - “22
And they came to
3.1.
According to J.D.
Jones, this
3.2.
Mark alone
contains an account of this healing of the bind man.
3.3.
Each of Jesus’
healings seem to be handled uniquely by Him.
We have discussed that in each instance that what Jesus did in healing
the person He did in order to increase the person’s faith, knowing what he/she
specifically needed. Here, Jesus first
led the man by the hand outside of the village where they would be undistracted
by any of the sounds around them (a blind man typically has incredibly good
sense of sound). Then, Jesus spat in the
man’s eyes and laid His hands on him,
Yet, the man was not completely healed until after He interrogated him
and then laid His hands upon the man yet again.
3.4.
One of the
interesting things about this miracle is that up until this time, each of our
Lord’s miracles has been immediate and complete for the recipient. By doing this, Jesus’ glory, might, and power
have been revealed. Yet, here we see
that though this healing eventually was complete, the man was only partially
healed at this point in time.
3.5.
Most Bible
commentators point out that just as each of Jesus’ miracles illustrate also for
us a manner in which men and women are healed from sin, that this miracle
illustrates how that when a person comes to that they don’t initially see
things as they are. There is a
progressive revelation of truth that happens in their lives. Initially, they do not really understand what
God’s grace is all about, for instance, or what redemption really involves, or how
that they still have indwelling sin within them after coming to salvation and
that salvation through Christ is a continual process, etc., etc. People do not initially see the true nature
of people after coming to Christ in the same way that this man initially just
saw people like trees, not being able to specifically define their images. Its only as we continue to abide in Christ
that we finally begin to see ourselves and others in their proper light, and
truly come to understand the story of redemption.
3.6.
It is interesting
that Jesus here wants this man with his restored vision to not even go into the
villages to testify of what Christ has done for him, but rather to go straight
to his family and friends in that place where he lives, and be a testimony to
them. Those who know this man best will
be ministered to the most by him.
3.7.
Note that because the man saw people initially looking as
trees that at one point in time he had been able to see, then some accident or
disease had caused him to become blinded.
4.
VS 8:27-30 - “27
Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea
Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and
others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” 29 And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and
said to Him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And He warned them to tell no one about Him.” – Jesus went to
Caesarea Philippi and on the way began to ask them two questions, “Who do
people say that I am?” and “Who do you say that I am?”
4.1.
Jesus took His
disciples about 25 miles north of Bethsaida Julias to the remote area of
Caesarea Philippi now. Harper’s Bible
Dictionary has the following entry for ‘Caesarea Philippi’:
Caesarea Philippi
(ses-uh-ree«uh fi-lip´ī), a Gentile frontier town located on the southern slope
of
4.2.
It was finally
time for Jesus’ disciples to be tested as to whether or not they truly
understood who He was, or not. Was
Jesus’ ministry going to be a huge failure and all His work be in vain, or were
they going to able to get what He needed to tell them about who He is and what
He came to do? Everything was going to
be based upon their answer to this question by Jesus, and their subsequent
response regarding His mission to die upon the cross for the sins of the
world.
4.3.
To prepare the
disciples to answer who they thought that He was, Jesus first asked them who ‘people
say that I am’? The response there
was that the people knew that Jesus was a prophet of God of some sort,
definitely a holy man sent of God, and there were many opinions about which
reincarnated Old Testament prophet Jesus might be. The common people knew more of who Jesus was
than those who should have known, the religious experts.
4.4.
Finally, Jesus
asks them the “ten thousand dollar question.” He asks them, ‘But who do you say that I
am?’
4.5.
Peter knew the
answer and spoke for the rest of them, as was his habit. He tells Jesus that He is ‘the Christ’,
in other words the Anointed One and Messiah, the One who was the hope of
Israel, He who is prophesied to come to Israel in hundreds of passages found
all throughout the Old testament. In
Matthew’s account of this story he tells more of what Peter answered. In Matt. 16:16, Peter says, “You are the
Christ, the son of the living God.”
4.6.
The Bible Exposition Commentary says the following about
the importance of what you believe about Jesus Christ:
If you were to
go around asking your friends, “What do people say about me?” they would take
it as an evidence of pride. What difference does it really make what people
think or say about us? We are not that important! But what people believe and
say about Jesus Christ is important, for He is the Son of God and the
only Saviour of sinners.
Your confession
concerning Jesus Christ is a matter of life or death (John 8:21, 24; 1 John
2:22–27; 4:1–3). The citizens of Caesarea Philippi would say, “Caesar is lord!”
That confession might identify them as loyal Roman citizens, but it could never
save them from their sins and from eternal hell. The only confession that saves
us is “Jesus is Lord!” (1 Cor. 12:1–3) when that confession comes from a heart
that truly believes in Him (
4.7.
Mark only records
Jesus replying to the disciples after Peter’s confession, that they were not to
tell anyone these things. However,
Matthew records Jesus’ accolades spoken to Peter: Matthew 16:17-19, “17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did
not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 “I also say to you that you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not
overpower it. 19 “I will give you
the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have
been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in
heaven.””
4.8.
Jesus warned His
disciples, now that they know that He is the Messiah the Holy One of Israel,
that they are to tell no one these things.
He didn’t want too much publicity about who He was because He knew He
needed to be alone with His disciples and not be constantly tied down to
ministering to the needy multitudes.
Plus, the disciples needed to learn much more before they were ready to
proclaim the true nature of Jesus to the multitudes.
5.
VS 8:31-33 - “31
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. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him
aside and began to rebuke Him. 33
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.”” – After Peter makes his great confession about who
Jesus is, Jesus immediately begins to speak of His passion, that he would
suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and
killed, but that after three days He would rise again, but then, Peter takes
Him aside and began to rebuke Him for saying these things, but Jesus tells him
(Satan) to get behind Him for he was not setting his mind on God’s things, but
man’s
5.1.
It was only now
that the disciples had come to truly understand who Jesus was, and be confirmed
in the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus could begin to ‘plainly’
explain why He had come to the earth and what His calling now was going to be.
5.2.
Prior to this point
in time, Jesus had intimated His passion, yet He was not clear enough for His
disciples to be sure exactly what He was saying. The disciples were still believing the
popular belief that when the Messiah came that He would immediately be a
material king and set up army and go conquering the nations, beginning first
with
5.3.
This very clear
news by Jesus of His passion was confusion and disillusioning to the
disciples. They were all disappointed in
Jesus and began to lose all hope in Him.
When Peter rebukes Jesus, he again was only speaking the words that all
of the disciples were thinking.
5.4.
The Bible Exposition Commentary says the following about
how the disciples were confused by this announcement by Jesus: “This announcement stunned the disciples.
If He is indeed the Christ of God, as they had confessed, then why would He be
rejected by the religious leaders? Why would these leaders crucify Him? Did not
the Old Testament Scriptures promise that Messiah would defeat all their
enemies and establish a glorious kingdom for
5.5.
Notice that this
is one of several times in which Jesus taught His disciples that He would one
day rise again from the dead after three days.
5.6.
Peter went from
the highest of highs when He had made his “Great Confession” of who Jesus
is, but now Peter finds himself hitting the lowest of lows. Jesus calls Peter, ‘Satan’, because he
is acting as an agent of the Devil.
5.7.
It is appropriate
that Peter would be called ‘Satan’ by Jesus. The last of Jesus’ temptations by the Devil
after His baptism was a temptation to receive all of the kingdoms of the world
without having to go to the cross. At
that time it is written in the gospels that the Devil left Jesus for a time but
would return, and here the Devil has returned and he has returned to again
tempt Jesus with the same temptation.
Peter is rebuking Jesus about speaking about the suffering of the cross
and telling Him that He can become a king now without going to the cross. Peter is tempting Jesus as Satan’s ambassador
and thus needs to be rebuked by Jesus in the strongest manner.
5.8.
Jesus tells Peter
that He is not setting his mind on the things of God because he is not
understanding the things of God, especially the manner of the redemption of
lost mankind which is Jesus’ mission.
5.9.
Peter had been the mouthpiece of God when he made his
great confession, now he is a stumbling block to God, and the Bible Exposition
Commentary says the following, “Dr. G. Campbell Morgan said, “The man who
loves Jesus, but who shuns God’s method, is a stumbling block to Him.””
6.
VS 8:34 - “34
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.” – Jesus tells
the crowd along with His disciples that if anyone wished to come after Him that
he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus
6.1.
Jesus gives the
requirements here for anyone who would want to be His follower and inherit
eternal life through Him. His words were
not just for His disciples, not for the disciples of the early church, these
were for all men for all of eternity.
6.2.
Jesus states that if anyone would come after Him he must
‘deny himself’, and the Bible Exposition Commentary defines what that
means: “we deny self when we
surrender ourselves to Christ and determine to obey His will. This once-for-all
dedication is followed by a daily “dying to self” as we take up the cross and
follow Him. From the human point of view, we are losing ourselves, but from the
divine perspective, we are finding ourselves. When we live for Christ, we
become more like Him, and this brings out our own unique individuality.”
6.3.
Not only will
Jesus face a cross, He tells His disciples that they too must face a
cross. Each person must ‘take up his
cross’ and suffer himself, suffer on behalf of Christ, and suffer the loss
of his own will and desires to do Christ’s calling and bidding.
6.4.
In our world
today, many churches and church leaders are teaching that a person can be a
Christian without having to die to himself, without yielding to Christ as Lord
and Master of his life, and without doing anything inconvenient on behalf of
Christ. But, Jesus says the
opposite. To be saved, each person must
take up his cross, that which symbolizes the sentence of death and suffering. Great blessings will come but only as one
finds himself as a servant and ambassador of Christ.
6.5.
Likewise, anyone
who would inherit eternal life, he must ‘come after’ Jesus and ‘follow’
Him. Jesus will only save a disciple,
and a disciple is one who follows Jesus in His example, and in his calling and
leading.
7.
VS 8:35-38 - “35
“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. 36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the
whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37
“For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 “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
reveals to His disciples the wisdom involved in following Him
7.1.
Jesus gives His
disciples five arguments that show the wisdom for following through with His
admonition about denying himself and taking up his cross daily and following
Him:
7.1.1. ‘whoever wishes to save his life will lose it’.
7.1.1.1.If a person decides to try to hold onto his life and
do whatever he wants to do, he will in the end lose his life for eternity, and so,
to live for self and selfish reasons for a few short years upon this earth but
then to spend eternity in hell is not a wise decision to make. Its not worth while.
7.1.2. ‘whoever loses his life for My sake and the
gospel’s will save it’.
7.1.2.1.If a person does lose his life to Jesus to do whatever
Jesus would have him to do in his life, then he is promised by Jesus that for
all eternity that He will save it, or spend his
life in heaven for all eternity.
7.1.3. ‘what does it profit a man to gain the whole
world, and forfeit his soul’.
7.1.3.1.Jesus tells His disciples that it is foolish to live
for the things of this world, even if he would be able to gain everything in
the whole world, and this is because to do so you will forfeit your soul for
all eternity in hell.
7.1.4. ‘what will a man give in exchange for his soul’.
7.1.4.1.There is no kind of a relationship that a person can
have with God that does not involve giving of his entire life or soul. You can’t work out some sort of a deal with
God, and this is because first of all we have nothing with which we could even
barter or bargain with God. God owns
everything in the universe, therefore none of us could ever tempt Him or bribe
Him with anything that we have, in exchange for giving our life to Him for
salvation.
7.1.5. ‘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’.
7.1.5.1.If a person lives his life ashamed of owning Jesus as
his Lord and Savior, then Jesus promises that He will also be ashamed to own
him before the Father. A person must be
willing to confess Jesus to be his/her Lord and Savior if Jesus will be willing
to claim his/her life as redeemed by Him.
8.
CONCLUSIONS:
8.1.
Do you know who
Jesus really is?
8.2.
Do you know why
He really came?
8.3.
Do you recognize
the wisdom of committing your life to Christ in the way that Jesus outlines?
8.4.
Have you truly
denied yourself and your desires and plans and committed yourself to Jesus to
be your Lord and Savior?