Today’s text is Mark 8:31-33:
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
1. Jesus was to be rejected. (vs. 31) Three different groups were to reject Jesus; and not only reject Jesus, but be at the head of His suffering. How much more do the “religious” of our day reject Him? The “religious” of the day are not just what we think of “religion”, but what we think of as “worldviews”. Thus, secular humanism and post-modernism is also what rejects Jesus, all in the name of “tolerance”. Don’t believe me? Talk to your average Joe on any college campus, and assert that Jesus is exclusive – that is – that no person can go to the Father but through Him (John 14:6). See how quick that you will be debated.
2. Even disciples can move against the will of God. (vs. 32-33) How quickly we make judgements and move against what God is purposing! Peter, thinking that he’s doing good in “protecting” Jesus in this scene doesn’t understand what Jesus just said: “the Son of Man must suffer….” Notice that Jesus never said, “will suffer”, but “must suffer”. This is a clue here: It was God’s eternal plan from the beginning for this to be accomplished. And yet – Peter wants to move against this plan that has been pre-ordained.
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