Throughout history, a diverse array of perceptions about Jesus has emerged. From His birth to the present, people have attempted to shape a Jesus that resonates with them. A blog post by Kevin DeYoung provides some thought-provoking examples. He writes:
“There’s the Republican Jesus—who is against tax increases and activist judges and for family values and owning firearms.
“There’s Democrat Jesus—who is against [Main Street and small business] and for reducing our carbon footprint and printing money.
“There’s Starbucks Jesus—who drinks fair trade coffee, loves spiritual conversations, drives a hybrid, and goes to film festivals.
“There’s Therapist Jesus—who helps us cope with life’s problems, heals our past, tells us how valuable we are and not to be so hard on ourselves.
“There’s Open-minded Jesus—who loves everyone all the time no matter what (except for people who are not as open-minded as you).
“There’s Spirituality Jesus—who hates religion, churches, pastors, priests, and doctrine, and would rather have people out in nature, finding ‘the god within’ while listening to ambiguously spiritual music.
There are more examples, but you get the idea. While these examples may have kernels of truth, there is much projection; we project onto Jesus the qualities we want Him to have.
Today, we are no different from those who lived during Jesus’s time with their varying ideas about who He was. As we continue our study in Mark’s Gospel, we face this most important question from Jesus; “Who Do YOU Say I Am?” The question is just as relevant to us as it was when Jesus laid it before His disciples. It is critical because the answer determines your eternal destiny and mine.
“Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” To misconstrue who He was and is carries profound, eternal implications. Our study is designed to bring you face-to-face with the authentic Jesus. Our text is Mark 8:27 to 33, and understanding Jesus’ true identity is not just a matter of academic interest but a question that carries the weight of our beliefs and eternal destiny. It is a question that we cannot afford to overlook. (Read the text).
The characters’ RESPONSES in this text answer the question, “Who Do YOU Say I Am?”
The First RESPONSE is,
The People’s Confusion
Our text tells us that Jesus traveled north with His disciples to the foothills of Mount Hermon and the villages around Caesarea Philippi. This region was approximately 15 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and was ruled by Herod Philip.
Why did Jesus go here? He was removed from Herod Antipas’s annoyance, who had executed John the Baptist and was also out of the reach of the Pharisees. Perhaps He is still seeking needed rest and the opportunity to teach the 12 without distraction, especially in light of His approaching death. This is approximately six months before His crucifixion.
As they travel, Jesus asks them, “Who do men say I am?” Jesus already knew what the masses thought of Him, but He wanted the Twelve to appreciate the difference between perception and reality. Jesus’ disciples also knew what people were saying about Him, and their answers seemed to come without hesitation. However, this was a leading question. Jesus was setting the stage for a more significant inquiry.
They first mentioned John the Baptist. You may recall that in chapter six, when Herod first heard about Jesus, he said, “John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him. Later, his guilty conscience led him to conclude, “This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!” We can be sure that Herod wasn’t the only one with that opinion.
Other people said of Jesus, “He is Elijah.” In the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, we read, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” Further, if you compare the messages and miracles of both men, there are many similarities. So, this was not just a random guess but a logical conclusion for them to draw.
Still, others said that Jesus was “one of the prophets.” The Jews of that time had a tradition that Jeremiah would return with the Ark of the Covenant when Messiah established His kingdom. Some saw Jesus as just another in a long line of prophetic messengers. But Jesus was more than “one of the prophets.” Despite all His miracles, all the displays of Divine power, and explicit teaching about the kingdom, people still refused to accept Him as Messiah. Their highest hope was to have a military deliverer who would free them from Rome’s tyranny and reestablish the monarchy’s glory days of David and Solomon.
People today are still confused about who Jesus is. I would guess there are more varied opinions about who Jesus is today than when Jesus first asked the question. I opened my teaching with some of those opinions. Many of those opinions result from trying to bring Jesus down to the level of our human understanding. We want a Jesus who makes us comfortable where we are and makes few or no demands on us. But that is an emasculated Jesus, a Jesus deprived of His strength and vigor, not the Jesus of Scripture.
More importantly, people’s confused opinions about who Jesus is don’t change the facts. Many will realize too late that there is only one correct response to the question, “Who do you say I am?” (That leads us to the subsequent response).
The Next RESPONSE is,
Peter’s Confession
The religious leaders were bitterly hostile to Jesus. The crowds were looking for bread and a political Messiah. Jesus wanted to probe the disciples’ understanding of who He was and their faith and loyalty to Him. So, He raises the crucial question, “Who do YOU say I am?” Did the Twelve still believe He was the Messiah after all the defections and opposition they had seen?
Luke’s account stresses the contrast between Jesus’ questions to the Twelve. The first question was, “Who do THE people say I am?” The contrasting question is, “But you, who do YOU say that I am?” The emphasis is on the “you.”
And bless God, Peter, reckless, impulsive Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, blurts out a truth beyond his own comprehension: “You are the Christ.” Peter was not only one of the Twelve but also one of the inner circle of three and a spokesman for both groups.
Let’s compare Mark’s record with Matthew’s and Luke’s regarding Peter’s confession. Matthew records Peter’s response: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Luke has Peter saying, “[You are] the Christ of God.” Not surprisingly, Mark’s record is the shortest.
Let’s examine Peter’s statement, “You are the Christ.” He was making a clear statement that Jesus was the Messiah. In John 1:41, Andrew tells Peter, “We have found the Messiah, which means Christ.” Messiah finds its meaning anointed in the Old Testament Hebrew; Christ finds its sense of the same in the New Testament Greek (and the Septuagint). So, these terms were and are synonymous. We know the disciples only fully understood Peter’s confession after the resurrection. Still, his confession marks a growing embrace of the Messianic office of Jesus.
Most Jews of that time believed that the Messiah would be a descendant of David who would sit on a physical throne in Jerusalem after freeing them from the Romans’ oppression. They did not subscribe to the idea that the Messiah would be God in the flesh.
Peter’s confession was in direct opposition to the Pharisees’ and religious leaders’ pronouncement that “Jesus was NOT the Messiah.” Because Jesus refused to perform the signs they requested and fit Himself into their religious system, they rejected Him. Matthew’s Gospel records this rejection after feeding the 5,000 before Peter’s confession.
How could Peter make such a bold confession? Only by the Spirit of God! Matthew records Jesus as saying to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonas, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven.” In First Corinthians 12:3, Paul reminds us, “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”
Mark omits all the praise of Peter that is recorded in Matthew’s account. That’s not surprising if you remember that Peter was the source of Mark’s information.
There is one other detail that Mark doesn’t include that I want to explore because it adds meaning to this whole narrative. If you recall the opening verse of the text, verse 27, Jesus went with His disciples to the towns around Caesarea Philippi.
Caesarea Philippi is mentioned only in the gospels of Matthew and Mark, both recording the same incident. In March of 2023, Joyce and I had the privilege of visiting Israel and this site. The natural spring near Caesarea Philippi is the largest source of the Jordan River. Caesarea Philippi was the setting for Jesus’ famous statement to Peter, “On this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). This passage contains the very first use of the word church in the New Testament.
At the site, water flows from an underground cavern, which is the primary source of the Jordan River. The pagan people of the day referred to this opening as “the gates of Hades,” or the opening to the underworld, ruled by the god Pan. He was a fertility god whose image was half man and half goat. In the face of the rock cliff above the cave are chiseled niches that once contained images or statues. There are also the ruins of a pagan temple there.
It’s not too hard to imagine Jesus making this statement to the disciples with this site in the background. It was like putting an exclamation point on what He was telling His disciples and drawing a line in the sand for the powers of darkness.
Immediately following Peter’s confession, Jesus forbade the disciples from spreading that news abroad. Why? According to John 6:15, Jesus feared the people would forcibly crown Him as King. The purpose of His coming was not to primarily preside over an earthly kingdom but to reveal and establish the kingdom of God. The people’s plans would have hindered God’s, and Jesus was fully committed to following His Father’s will. And then, to explain the rationale behind His prohibition, He tells the disciples of His impending suffering, death, and resurrection. This reality was foreign to their concept of a Messiah.
How do you answer Jesus’ question, “Who do YOU say I am?” Do you agree with Peter’s statement, “You are the Christ?” If so, what does that mean to you? How does that confession affect your daily life? Confessing that Jesus is the Anointed One of God has significant implications. One cannot make that confession and live as one chooses because, as the Son of God, He is also a Lord and Master.
The perceptions of Jesus that I mentioned in my introduction are the creations of people who want a Jesus that they can control. However, the Scriptures don’t give us that option. We either surrender to Christ’s lordship or continue in our sins. Peter had to learn this the hard way.
The Final RESPONSE is,
Jesus’ Censure
Censure is an expression of strong disapproval, a formal reprimand. Immediately following Peter’s confession, Jesus spoke openly with the Twelve about His impending death. He told 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.”
As He shared these future events with them, Peter took Him aside and rebuked Him sharply. Even though Peter attempted to rebuke Him privately, Jesus turned toward the other disciples and issued a severe rebuke to Peter. “Get behind me, Satan, for you are not thinking after the mind of God, but the minds of men.” Wow!
Why such strong language? The temptation offered to Jesus in the wilderness by Satan is now being suggested by Peter – glory without the cross. Satan was using Peter as a mouthpiece. Peter’s thoughts were not the thoughts of God; this was part of “the leaven of the Pharisees.” Peter was a leader, and his influence was substantial, so the rebuke was necessary. Later, Paul wrote to Timothy about leaders, “Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.” This is a command that is too often neglected in our day.
For Jesus to forego the cross would have meant no salvation for humankind. That’s why Jesus said these things MUST happen. He had to be, in the words of the apostle Paul, “…delivered up because of our offenses, and raised because of our justification.”
It’s not hard for us to understand Peter’s sentiments. None of us would want someone we love to go through the things Jesus predicted. Peter wanted to control what happened to Jesus, to protect Him, and, in the process, became an unwitting tool of Satan. He was zealous in His love for Jesus, but his zeal was not according to knowledge of God’s plan.
Did the other disciples share Peter’s views and were watching for Jesus’ response? If so, Jesus’ answer was shockingly clear! Contrast Peter’s leadership in his confession of Christ with him now playing the part of Satan and being ordered to the rear! F. F. Bruce wrote, “None are more formidable instruments of temptation than well-meaning friends, who care more for our comfort than our character.”
The facts of this passage should teach us a lesson in humility. We see how short the step between making a good confession and becoming a tool in Satan’s hands is. Even though Jesus censured Peter, He didn’t cast him away because of this incident, and we must be patient with each other as we sometimes err in our zeal for the Lord Jesus.
Again, I remind you of Jesus’ question, “Who do you say I am?” Are you confused, like the people of Jesus’ day, thinking He was John the Baptist, Elijah, or some other prophet? Or do you confess that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God?
If you confess that He is the Christ, what difference is that making in your life today?
