April 15, 2013
Mark 8:27-30 (ESV), “And Jesus went on with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way He asked His disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they told Him, ‘John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.’ And He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered Him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And He strictly charged them to tell no one about Him.”
Darrell Green was a cornerback for the Washington Redskins from 1983 to 2002. He was considered to be the fastest man in the NFL for much of his nearly 20 year career. Darrell was born in Houston Texas and for a football player he was very small. In fact he characterizes himself as an “itty bitty” guy who didn’t even play football until his junior year in high school. But Darrell Green had one thing that you cannot coach and that was speed. This is not to say that Darrell didn’t work hard, he did, so that he could take advantage of the God given talent he had been given, so he could take advantage of what he calls that “right now” moment.
After he graduated from high school he was not offered a single football scholarship from any school at any level, but he was offered a tryout at Texas A&I in Kingsville Texas…if he could find his own way there. He found his way and he was prepared for his “right now” moment and he made the team. He played four years at Texas A&I then was drafted in the first round by the Redskins and had a 20 year Hall of Fame career filled with “right now” moments. All because he was prepared for his “right now” moment. Are you ready for your “right now” moment?
If you are a Christ follower are ready for your right now moment in a culture that is increasingly hostile to the faith? If you are a non-believer are you ready for your right now moment when you must decide who Jesus Christ is? This week we are going to take a look at what I call a right now moment in Scripture which has much more serious consequences than a football game or even a hall of fame career. We are going to be in Mark 8:27-38 and we are going to see a “right now” moment, a moment when Jesus lays it all on the line for His disciples and His followers and lays it on the line for us His followers today.
The Gospel of Mark was written with Roman and Gentile believers in mind. There is no genealogy and Mark uses some Latin expressions instead of the Greek equivalents. Mark presents Christ as the suffering Servant of the Lord. Mark focuses more on the deeds of Christ than on His teachings. There are no lengthy discourses like you will find in the other Gospels.
The section of Scripture which we will be focused on this week deals with Jesus’ ministry in a largely Gentile region. He has fed the four thousand, healed the deaf mute in the Decapolis and healed the blind man in Bethsaida. Some commentators believe that Christ was actually leading His disciples to a more remote area as kind of a retreat from the hustle and bustle of the crowds as he was preparing them for what was to come.
Jesus was preparing them for His coming death, burial and resurrection and their assumption of the gospel ministry. In other words He is preparing them for their right now moment. I believe that we are getting very close to our right now moment in the church here in the United States. We complain an awful lot in the Christian community about our culture but the church has done almost nothing about it because we have ignored to a large extent the call to evangelism. Are we ready for our “right now” moment?
In this passage we are going to see that there are four elements to the Gospel that we must understand and grasp in order to be prepared for that spiritual right now moment. The first element is found in verses 27-30 and that is that it doesn’t matter what the world thinks.
Jesus and His disciples had just left Bethsaida where He had healed a blind man and so we can imagine that there were large crowds pretty much wherever He went. They are traveling to or through the “villages of Caesarea Philippi” which is a city about 25 miles north of Bethsaida near Mt. Hermon.
On the way, either while they were walking or maybe at a moment of rest and with people following them; Jesus asked a very relevant question given the numbers of people following. “Who do people say that I am?” You can almost picture Christ pointing at the large number of people following them.
The disciples then answer Him with a range of answers based upon public perception or opinion of who He truly was: John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets. Mark 6:14 says, “King Herod heard of it, for Jesus name had become known. Some said, ‘John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are with Him.’” In Luke 9:7 it says, “Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead.” Even Herod was of the belief that Christ was somehow the resurrected or reincarnated John the Baptist.
Others believed Him to be Elijah or one of the prophets. Luke 9:8 says, “by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen.” Just as today people believe all sorts of things about who Jesus was, or whether He existed or whether or not He was resurrected. Was He a political figure? Was He a crusader for social justice? Was He a great moral teacher?
None of this really matters though because the world and Satan are always going to attempt to spread untruth about the person and work of Jesus Christ. It does not matter though who the world says Jesus is. This is why we must never change the message of the Gospel to satisfy the world! The world will never be satisfied with the truth claims of Scripture.
What does matter though is who do you say Jesus is? Jesus asked them in verse 29, “But who do you say that I am?” That question must be answered by all of us because as we learned when we studied Isaiah 53 we are lost without Christ. We are lost because we are not good, we are evil and sinful and unrighteous and because of that fact we are separated from God. Because of this fact we must at some point address who Jesus is because Jesus and only Jesus can truly address our sin problem.
Peter had the answer; Peter always had the answer didn’t He? Peter answers, “You are the Christ.” Peter had an understanding of who Jesus Christ was. In John 6:68-69 Peter asked, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.” Peter is the one in Matthew 14 who stepped out on the water when he said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to you on the water.”
Peter was sort of the unofficial spokesman for the disciples. In Matthew 17:4 at the Transfiguration Peter said, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” In Matthew 26:33 Peter says to the Lord, “Though they all fall away because of You, I will never fall away.” Then tragically in only a matter of hours he would deny Christ.
Then Jesus warns them not to say who He really is. Why? Because apart from the cross Jesus’ mission could not be understood and the disciples did not yet fully understand nor would they until His death, burial and resurrection.
So the first element of that right now moment is that it really does not matter who the world says Jesus Christ is, what matters for your salvation is who do you say He is? Tomorrow we will look at the second element.
isaiah556 