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Mark 8:27-38

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. 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. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 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.” Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

 By: The Rev. Dr. Mark McDermott

Having revealed Himself to the Syrophoenician women, Jesus now calls the Twelve to Him so that they too can understand Him more clearly. Initially He does a Gallup poll, what is the popular view of Him? Hey, what do people think? The answer is a broad survey, but the main theme is that Jesus is a great prophet. Good work, some might say, now let’s quit while we are ahead! But, no, this answer is not good enough, and Jesus asks the Twelve what they personally think. It is all very comforting that the majority believe me to be a prophet, but what I really want to know is – what do you personally think? Don’t hide behind safe opinions! And good old Peter blurts out, “You
are the Christ.” Bingo, this is the right answer, this is what Jesus wanted to hear. Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of the Father; there can be only one answer, and this is it.

Perhaps more than ever the Church is preoccupied with surveys, with what is the popular view of God and of us? What do the young people think? What do the People Who Count, think? And hey, we want To Fit In and articulate a Safe and Inoffensive gospel. No lack of churches doing that! But Jesus is really not interested in any of this. There can be only One Right Answer – Jesus is the Christ and the Saviour of the world.

The Church falls short of its mission when it proclaims a safe, “popular”, and acceptable gospel. We are called to proclaim who Jesus truly is and what it means to be His follower. If that makes the world uncomfortable – and us as well – that is the way it must
be.

So while Peter deserves credit for not falling into the Popular Survey Trap (Jesus is a great religious genius, further details not wanted), he still has a lot more learning to do.

He does not yet understand the message of the cross, and Jesus rightly rebukes him. The cross is the great clash with the world’s values, from which Jesus emerged triumphant. But still the Church often wants (and we want) a Safe Jesus, a comfortable Jesus, a Jesus that Fits In, the Jesus of Christmas and Easter without Good Friday! But we are called to live and proclaim the only Jesus there is – the Son of the living God. We do the world no favour by proclaiming anything less!