Today's readings are in Mark 8 & 9.
As the first disciples walked with Jesus it must have been at times both awesome and confusing. Mark 8 and 9 illustrate that. The 8th chapter opens with a series of "awe" moments. A crowd of 4000 people are miraculously fed. They had previously witnessed a crowd of 5000, and here he does it again. An encounter with the Pharisees gives Jesus the opportunity to remind the disciples of the difference between who they were as his followers and what the religious Pharisees represented. One more thing follows when Jesus heals a blind man in Bethsaida.
Then the turning point, as Jesus begins to remind his disciples of why he had come to begin with.... Mark 8:27-33 (NLT)
27 Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.”
29 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”
30 But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
31 Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead.
32 As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.
33 Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
Two things stand out in this revelation: The first one they got (especially Peter)...he really was the Messiah. The second one they didn't get (especially Peter)...he was going to be killed. This revelation is two-fold - He is King and He went to the Cross. When Jesus informs them that he "must suffer" that was a totally new revelation. He is not merely predicting the event, he is saying it is necessary. And how would this occur? Not at the hands of a violent mob, or a robbery, an assassination, at the hands of the wicked...NO...this would happen by the hands of "the elders, chief priests, teachers of the law." The cross is a revelation that at the heart of reconciliation, real forgiveness, there must be a fresh character of God from the very core of his work outward to the whole world.
SO, it makes sense what follows. Mark 8:34-36 (NLT)
34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.
35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?
C.S. Lewis got it correct when towards the end of his masterpiece, "Mere Christianity" he penned these words: "The more we get what we now call 'ouselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become...our real selves are all waiting for us in Him...The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity, upbringing, surroundings, and desires...what I so proudly call 'myself' becomes merely a meeting-place for trains of events which I never started and I cannot stop...when I turn to Christ...I finally have a real (life) of my own."
For us, Jesus models real life...a life lived giving up the rights to self, admitting that we need the Savior that Jesus came to be for us, and surrending our lives to something much bigger than we ever could gain in our small self world - to Jesus and his Kingdom.
Peace
If you're reading through the Bible in a year with me, today's reading is 1 Samuel 25, 26, 27. David models this "giving up" of his life for the life of God so beautifully.
As the first disciples walked with Jesus it must have been at times both awesome and confusing. Mark 8 and 9 illustrate that. The 8th chapter opens with a series of "awe" moments. A crowd of 4000 people are miraculously fed. They had previously witnessed a crowd of 5000, and here he does it again. An encounter with the Pharisees gives Jesus the opportunity to remind the disciples of the difference between who they were as his followers and what the religious Pharisees represented. One more thing follows when Jesus heals a blind man in Bethsaida.
Then the turning point, as Jesus begins to remind his disciples of why he had come to begin with.... Mark 8:27-33 (NLT)
27 Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.”
29 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”
30 But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
31 Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead.
32 As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.
33 Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
Two things stand out in this revelation: The first one they got (especially Peter)...he really was the Messiah. The second one they didn't get (especially Peter)...he was going to be killed. This revelation is two-fold - He is King and He went to the Cross. When Jesus informs them that he "must suffer" that was a totally new revelation. He is not merely predicting the event, he is saying it is necessary. And how would this occur? Not at the hands of a violent mob, or a robbery, an assassination, at the hands of the wicked...NO...this would happen by the hands of "the elders, chief priests, teachers of the law." The cross is a revelation that at the heart of reconciliation, real forgiveness, there must be a fresh character of God from the very core of his work outward to the whole world.
SO, it makes sense what follows. Mark 8:34-36 (NLT)
34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.
35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?
C.S. Lewis got it correct when towards the end of his masterpiece, "Mere Christianity" he penned these words: "The more we get what we now call 'ouselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become...our real selves are all waiting for us in Him...The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity, upbringing, surroundings, and desires...what I so proudly call 'myself' becomes merely a meeting-place for trains of events which I never started and I cannot stop...when I turn to Christ...I finally have a real (life) of my own."
For us, Jesus models real life...a life lived giving up the rights to self, admitting that we need the Savior that Jesus came to be for us, and surrending our lives to something much bigger than we ever could gain in our small self world - to Jesus and his Kingdom.
Peace
If you're reading through the Bible in a year with me, today's reading is 1 Samuel 25, 26, 27. David models this "giving up" of his life for the life of God so beautifully.
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