Mark 8: 31-33

Pastor Kurt is still preaching on the Gospel of Mark and I'm still taking notes!

Mark 8: 31-33 31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Jesus knew they didn’t understand that His kingdom would be spiritual, so He immediately began telling them what it meant that He was the Messiah: that He would go to Jerusalem, be killed and be raised after 3 days. He wanted them to understand what was going to happen in a very short time. In the past He had made references to it, but now He spoke plainly.

“The Son of Man MUST”. It was going to happen because it was God’s plan. Jesus only came to do His Father’s will.

Acts 2: 22-23 22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

Read all of Isaiah 53 if you have any doubts. God put Jesus on the cross!

Our sin is so severe that He killed His own Son. What does this mean to us? Worship! That God would make a plan and Jesus would follow the plan to save us. It also means submission. Whatever God has planned for us we must submit to – just like Jesus did.

God did it because of His love for us, because of His mercy and kindness. How can we not worship Him back?

So Jesus reveals the plan and Peter took Him aside to rebuke Him! He interrupted Christ’s teaching because he just knew Jesus was wrong! Peter was sitting in the seat of a judge over Jesus. Never do that! People do it all the time and it’s wrong! Matthew 16:22 has the actual words Peter used, “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

Jesus said it’s going to happen and Peter calls Him Lord, but then says it can’t. “Lord” and “no” can not be in the same sentence! When Peter said “You are the Christ” in the previous passage he was speaking from God. Now minutes later he becomes a mouthpiece for Satan.

This happens to all of us. We all suffer from spiritual frailty. Peter missed that God’s plans often deviate significantly from our own. “Our ways are not His ways, our thought are not His thoughts.” Peter also missed that submission to God’s plan is crucial. And finally that an attempt to “correct” God’s plan is rebellion.

Christ corrects him in verse 33. He told him, “You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.” Jesus shows us here that Satanic behavior is much closer to home then we might think. It’s every time that we are not actually promoting God’s plan, His interests and His purposes. So it’s not just people who say they hate Jesus, it’s people who have apathy to God. Who just don’t care.

Do you love Christ and His interests? Then set your minds on God’s interests. Read the Bible and pray everyday. Let God speak to you.