Peter Sees

It’s really important when we read about people from the Bible that we remember their humanity. If you’ve been around church for a while, or you’ve ever watched the history channel, you’ve heard about Peter. He seems to be the most well known disciple of Jesus Christ. Most people remember him walking on water. But Peter was a real person. He was sixteen once. When he was young, he had a first job. He had hopes and dreams of what his life might be like one day. He had a best friend. He even fell in love! But there was a day, a real day, where there was a moment that he met a man who was introduced to him as Jesus. And there was a sort of magnetism about this Jesus. Peter didn’t really know why, but he wanted to hang out with Him. He didn’t understand everything Jesus said, certainly not everything He did, but this guy was interesting! And Peter could see one thing very clearly: Jesus loved Peter. He really cared about him. And so Peter decided to stick with Him. He started traveling with Jesus, listening to Him, and following Him. Peter began cultivating a relationship with Jesus. There came a moment – another real day – when Jesus decided to take a trip to the city of Caesarea Philippi. And we read about this in Mark 8, as Jesus and his friends are on their way to this city:

 “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?’” (Mark 8:27).

Jesus looks at the guys and asks, “What do you really think is going on here? Who do you think that I am? What do your parents and your friends say about what we’re doing here?” And they speak up! “And they told him, ‘John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets’” (Mark 8:28).

They spout off a list of famous Jews – well known members of their own community. John the Baptist had died earlier, and some people were claiming that he had come back to life. Other people thought that Jesus might be one of the prophets of old, resurrected and speaking again. But then Jesus turns to the men and speaks to them directly. “And he asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘you are the Christ’” (Mark 9:29). In this moment of confusion where the theories about Jesus’ identity are being tossed out, Peter speaks up and nails it with, “you are the Christ.” Peter says Jesus is the Messiah – the one who had been prophesied about for hundreds of years. Peter believed that He’d finally come, and Jesus was the One.

This realization, that Jesus is the Messiah, is the beginning of being a disciple. It starts with seeing Jesus for who He really is. Peter understood that Jesus was the Christ. Peter declares this truth, but Jesus takes it further:

“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. And he said this plainly” (Mark 8:31-32a). 

I love the last sentence that Jesus said this “plainly,” because these words were anything but plain to the men hearing them for the first time. We read that and think, “Oh yeah, Jesus is telling his story. How nice.” We think this way because we live on the other side of the story, and we know the whole thing! But for these disciples, Jesus was not making sense. What they were hearing was wrong. It was unthinkable that the Christ would suffer and die! The Messiah was the one who would come and conquer! The idea that the religious leaders would reject him caused the disciples to furrow their brows. The Christ was going to come and release the Jews from the nations that were oppressing them, not be mistreated and die! It sounded like weakness. You can see the wheels of Peter’s brain turning as he storms up to Jesus and grabs Him.

“And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him” (Mark 8:32b).

Peter pulls Jesus to the side and begins to tell him how he’s obviously wrong. Jesus can’t suffer, and He won’t die! Peter thinks he’s right, and if Jesus really is the Christ, then there is no way this will be his story!

Peter doesn’t quite get it. He has Jesus’ identity correct, but he does not understand what that means. Jesus speaks up:

“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” (Mark 8:33).

Imagine Jesus saying this to you! Jesus identifies an expectation He has for His disciples: we must set our minds on the things of God rather than the things of man. Setting your mind on the things of God means more than dreamily contemplating heaven and angels. Setting our minds on the things of God requires an evaluation of how we interpret truth. Peter had it right, but he took a God-given truth and interpreted it through the things of man. Peter saw Jesus as a means to an end: Peter would end up with influence as Jesus grew in power. How often do we do this? We see the truth of the Gospel through our own selfish lens, seeing only what we get.

Jesus then gathered all the people around and began to explain to them what life with Him looks like.

“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it’” (Mark 8:34).

Jesus is speaking to disciples and the crowd that is with them, but he’s trying to connect two thoughts for Peter. He wants Peter to understand that Jesus is who Peter thinks He is, but this means something totally different than Peter’s understanding of the Messiah. It means that your life is not about you. It’s not about what you can get, do or accomplish to make your name great, memorable or famous. Jesus was (and is) the Christ, but He was going to die. Jesus wanted Peter to understand that it wasn’t going to be pretty, but it was going to be the most beautiful moment in history.

What happened to Christ was exactly what He was predicted. He was rejected by the religious leaders. After they schemed against Him, He suffered and died. He died the death that we owe to pay off the debt that we mount up for ourselves by disobeying and ignoring God. Instead of dying ourselves, Christ, the perfect sacrifice, took our place. Three days later, He rose from the dead conquering sin and death forever. This is the Gospel that Jesus talks about losing your life for.

Jesus talks about losing your life. The odds are that, for most of us, things will never escalate to that level. But are we willing to leverage our lives for the task that Jesus laid out? Jesus was pouring into Peter. He was leveraging his life, making Peter a disciple that would make disciples for the rest of his life.

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There is one verse that I skipped in the passage from Mark 8, and it is perhaps the most intriguing. After Peter correctly identifies Jesus, Christ does something interesting. “And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him” (Mark 8:30). Though it seems strange, Jesus huddled his disciples together and told them not to tell anyone who he was. Isn’t it strange to think that there was really a moment in history where Jesus did that? Jesus knew that over the next few months, people were going to see the things he was doing and want to elevate him. They would want him to be the Messiah Peter had in mind, that would politically conquer the region and give the Jews power. So he looked his disciples in the eyes and told them to tell no one. But here’s the amazing thing: we don’t live during that time. Jesus would one day be revealed, and when the moment came, it would turn everything on his head. One day, Jesus would bring life through death and glory through humility. And the secret is out! We know the truth! And Jesus leans in, looks each on of us in the eye and whispers, “Tell everyone.”