Mark 8:27-33
Who Is Jesus?
As we return to our study of the Gospel according to Mark today, we resume in the passage that is the climax of this book. Everything in Mark that precedes this text anticipates it. Everything that will follow subsequently flows from this text. It is the very center-point of this Gospel for good reason, because it deals with the all-important question of who Jesus is. Throughout history, the name of Jesus has been revered by many, and often for various reasons. It is an age-old discussion.
In this election year, we are bombarded with information gathered by use of opinion polls. We are constantly fed data in the news about the economy, the war, the President’s job performance, and the various candidates for public office all gleaned from polling the people to determine the prevailing public opinion. Those who are campaigning for president, for instance, shape their platform and their campaign strategy on what people are saying about them. But what would we gather if we were to poll the populus about Jesus? And in this passage, Jesus asks the disciples to interpret the diverse public opinion about who He is. But then He comes to another more important question, “Who do you say that I am?” And if each of us were to stand face to face with Jesus today, as the twelve did along the way to Caesarea Philippi, the discussion would move rapidly toward that same question for each of us as well – “Who do you say that Jesus is?” As we consider this question we will see that there are many opinions about who He is, but only one answer is correct.
I. There are many popular opinions about who Jesus is. (vv27-28)
Jesus asks the disciples in v27, “Who do people say that I am?” And we see that even during the years that He walked this earth, public opinion about Him varied. The disciples summarize a few of the prevailing views about Him. Some in that day were saying that He was John the Baptist, returned to life. You may recall from Chapter 6 that even Herod Antipas, who had put John to death, feared that he had returned to life. After all, John was the boldest prophet of God to speak in four hundred years. And after four hundred years of prophetic silence, it would be hard to imagine a new wave of spokesmen for God rising up. So similar was the message of John to the message of Jesus, some believed that Jesus had to be a reincarnated John.
Others believed Him to be Elijah. Now, Elijah was the first of the great Old Testament prophets. He lived during the 800s BC, but those familiar with the Old Testament will recall that he did not experience death. Only two people in the Bible did not see death. We read in Genesis 5 of Enoch, the seventh generation after Adam. He is characterized in Scripture as a man who walked with God. The writer of Hebrews says of Him, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” Every human being before and after Enoch was born, lived, and then died – with the exception of one. That was Elijah. After Elijah had transferred his prophetic ministry to his successor Elisha, the Bible says in 2 Kings 2 that the two of them were walking together and talking, when suddenly there appeared “a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. … And [Elisha] saw Elijah no more.” And God had foretold through the prophet Malachi that Elijah would return before the great and terrible day of the Lord.
Elijah’s life and ministry was characterized by great displays of miraculous power. We often imagine that in Biblical times, miracles were commonplace, but that is not so. Only a handful of historic eras were characterized by frequent miracles. Apart from the miracle of creation, in the Old Testament we see miracles occurring with great frequency only during the Exodus period and during the ministries of Elijah and Elisha. Why these two periods only? Because in these times, God was validating the new revelation of His word through these miraculous displays. During the Exodus, God used miracles to validate His Law, which He gave to Israel through Moses. And during the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, God was affirming that He would use prophets like them to declare His word to His people. But for 800 years, miracles of this nature were few and far between. And then along comes Jesus. And the lame walk, and the deaf hear, and the blind see, and the mute speak, and the dead are raised, and the forces of nature are manipulated by the word of His power. And therefore, people might readily assume that this was the promised return of Elijah.
And others were less specific, saying only that Jesus was one of the prophets. His teaching bore the authority and authenticity of those who had spoken for God in bygone generations. But rather than equating Him with a specific prophet, they assumed that He had come to resume the prophetic work which had been silenced following the days of Malachi.
Over the centuries between then and now, public opinion continues to be diverse about just who this Jesus is. You would hardly find anyone who believed that He did not live, and that He did not die on a cross. There are many today who believe that Jesus was a good and honorable man who lived a life worthy of imitation. There are many who believe that Jesus was a good teacher of morality. We find those who would even go so far as to say He is a prophet. Some would call Him a martyr for a cause. Some would call Him a political or religious figurehead. And only a few would have any disparaging remark to make about Him whatsoever. And yet so many are reluctant to recognize Him for who He truly is. Most believe something true about Him, but few believe the whole truth about Him. For as diverse as public opinion about Jesus, they can’t all be right.
I recall one Saturday afternoon, when I was more patient than I am today, when two ladies came and knocked on our door. They had some magazines they wanted me to have that would teach me the truth about God and Jesus. I invited them in for some iced tea, and we sat in my living room and talked about matters of religion for an hour or so. And they proceeded to tell me that what I believed about Jesus was incorrect, and had all been invented by Constantine in 325 at the Council of Nicaea. They said that if I understood the Bible rightly, I would come to the same conclusion they had about Jesus, namely that He was not God. I opened my Bible and pointed them to John 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS GOD … and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” And I showed them Colossians 2:9, which says that in Christ the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. And they said my Bible was corrupted and that if I could understand the Greek language that the Bible was written in, then I would see the error of my ways. If I could see the Greek text, they said, I would know that in John 1, there was an indefinite article which indicated not that the Word was God, but that the Word was a god, (little “g”); and I would be able to see that Colossians 2:9 did not say that Jesus possessed the fullness of God, but rather that He was extremely godly. I excused myself for a moment, and went back into my study and retrieved my 26th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, and brought it back to them, and said, “Why don’t you show me?” And the older of the two ladies said, “I don’t know how to read Greek.” To which I said, “Well I do, and I will show you that there is no such thing as an indefinite article in Greek, and that the wording of Colossians 2:9 very specifically declares Jesus to be God incarnate. Now at this point, the older of the two women said that I was being unkind to them and that they should be leaving, and that we should agree to disagree. But before I let them go, I said, “Friend, listen to me for just a moment. I say that Jesus is God, and you say He isn’t. Now, if you are right, I am idolator; and if I am right, then you are a heretic. And one or the other of us is in danger of the fire of hell. You have asked that we agree to disagree, and I am afraid I just can’t do that, because one or the other of us is right and the other is wrong. Would you agree with me that, no matter how sincere either of us are in our opinions about Jesus, we can’t both be right?” And to that, the younger of the two said, “Sir, I just hope one of us is!”
Now I tell you that story to illustrate the very real logical impasse that we must all come to when we discuss the identity of Jesus. We can’t all be right. In fact, there can only be one right answer to the question of who Jesus is. And that is where we move now in the text.
II. There is only one right answer about who Jesus is. (v29-33)
Jesus quickly turns the discussion from public opinion to personal decision. He asks the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Now, bear in mind that He is not asking this question of total strangers. These are the twelve men who have been His constant companions and heard all of His public teaching, had the benefit of private instruction from Him, and have seen His miracles performed. Based on all that they have seen and heard, He asks them, “Who do you say that I am?” And the response He hears from Peter, and the discussion that follows, says much about who He is. His identity consists not only of who He is, but also what He has come to do – His title and His mission are inseparable in the purposes of God. He cannot be who He is without doing what He has come to do, and He cannot do what He has come to do unless He is who He is.
A. His Title
Accurate assessments of Jesus in this Gospel thus far have been few and sporadic, and from a surprising range of individuals. God the Father has declared in 1:11 that this is His beloved Son in whom He is well-pleased. Demons have rightly called Him “the Holy One of God,” and the Son of the Most High God.” He has been rightly identified by an unclean woman in Chapter 5, a Gentile woman and a deaf-mute Gentile in Chapter 7. Yet, the religious experts of Israel have called Him a blasphemer, a law-breaker, and even the devil himself. Even those closest to Him, the disciples, have appeared to be extremely dense at times. For instance, when He came walking to them across the water, they thought He was a ghost. They have failed to understand His parables repeatedly. They have failed to understand who He is in spite of the miracles He has performed. But now the veil has been lifted from their spiritual eyes, and Peter speaks up to confess that he finally understands who Jesus is by proclaiming …
1. His Proper Title (v29)
“You are the Christ.” For some who are new to the Christian faith, or who have not spent time in the study of the Word, “Christ” may be assumed to be the last name of Jesus, like Smith or Jones. “Christ” is His title. It is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew term “Messiah.” In John 1:41, we see that the people of Jesus’ day understood these two titles to be equal. In their respective languages, the terms Messiah and Christ declare that He is the Anointed One of God whose coming marks the fulfillment of all the divine promises God has made, and the realization of all the hopes of those who have lived under the covenant relationship God made with Israel. Paul will say in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes.” And those promises pertain to salvation, so as the Christ, Jesus is the one anointed by God for the task of saving humanity. Now here is an important question – “Saved from what?”
To speak of being saved means that there is some danger or peril from which one needs to be saved. I remember as a new Christian telling people, “I got saved.” And the people would look at me funny and say, “Saved from what?” And you know, in Jesus’ day, many people were unsure of what the Messiah-Christ was coming to save them from as well. Some thought that Messiah was coming to save them from the oppression of Rome, and they thought that He was going to lead a military coup de’ etat. But this was not the mission of Jesus. He had come to save people from a greater oppression than Rome. If they were freed from Rome’s bondage, they would still be in the grips of bondage that bind every human being – the bondage of sin. From the first entrance of sin into the world at the Garden of Eden, God had promised that a redeemer would come to liberate humanity from sin’s death-grip. This is what Christ came to do. He was the Anointed One of God who had come to bring the salvation from sin that had promised and prophesied under the Old Covenant. Therefore, Peter was spot-on in his confession that Jesus was the Christ. That is His proper title.
Interestingly enough, however, Jesus did not often use this title when speaking of Himself. Most often, when Jesus refers to Himself in the Gospels, He uses a different title.
2. His Preferred Title (v31 – “Son of Man”)
In verse 31, we find the title “Son of Man.” Jesus speaks of Himself with this title some 80 times in the Gospels. In Mark, He uses the title 14 times. No one else ever refers to Him with this name. While some insist that Jesus only uses this title to emphasize His human nature, those familiar with the Old Testament’s Messianic prophecies will recall that it has a very specific meaning attached to it. In the seventh chapter of Daniel, beginning at verse 13, we read …
“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”
When Jesus speaks of Himself as the Son of Man, this is the text that supplies understanding to the title. He is the One who has come from the Father, the Ancient of Days, with authority and dominion, and glory, to establish a Kingdom that will consist of people from every tribe and nation and tongue who serve Him. And His Kingdom will be established forever. Biblical scholar James DeYoung says that the use of this title by Jesus to refer to Himself enabled Him to speak modestly about His person and His mission while conveying the exalted truth about Himself. Unlike “Messiah,” or “Christ,” the term “Son of Man” was not laden with popular misconceptions, but rather had a clear biblical antecedent in Daniel’s prophecy that would supply meaning to those with understanding.
So, as we examine the titles used for Christ in this climactic narrative of Mark’s Gospel, we gain insight into His identity. He is the Son of Man, the Christ, the Messiah. But we cannot separate the titles used for Christ from the mission He had come to fulfill. Only when we understand them both do we come to understand the truth about who He is.
B. His Mission (v31-33)
If you were to poll the people of first century Israel and ask them what the Christ would do when He came, you would find a variety of answers. But very few indeed would have been familiar enough with the prophecies about His coming to answer correctly. Jesus had not come to kill and destroy, or to seize the powers of this world by force. Rather, He came to save mankind by sin by suffering on our behalf. Isaiah foretold this 700 years in advance with great clarity in his 53rd Chapter. If you turn there, you will see in the 3rd verse that the Messiah would be despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with our grief. Isaiah goes on to say that Messiah would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows, that He would be pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, chastened for our well-being, and scourged in order that we may be healed. He would be a guilt-offering for us, being crushed by the will of the Lord. It is clear from these verses that the mission of the Messiah involved suffering. Yet so many misunderstood this. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:23 that the notion of a crucified Christ was a stumbling block – a highly offensive thing – to the Jews, and utter foolishness to the Greeks. But Jesus explains to the disciples in very clear terms the events that are going to transpire as they journey to Jerusalem, and in so doing, He states the nature of His suffering and the necessity of His suffering for the fulfillment of His mission.
1. The Nature of His Suffering (v31).
Jesus says that the Son of Man must suffer many things. He tells them that He will be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes. Those who ought to know the most about the promises and prophecies are among those who most dangerously misunderstood the mission of the Messiah-Christ. And as a result of this rejection, He will be killed. He knew exactly the events which would come about in Jerusalem, including the manner of death that He would face. A thousand years earlier, the Holy Spirit had inspired David to pen the 22nd Psalm in which the details of crucifixion would be spelled out in great detail, even though neither David nor any of his contemporaries had never witnessed such horrid torture. David writes in that Psalm that the Suffering One would be poured out like water, and have all His bones pulled out of joint, His heart like wax melted within Him. The skin would be ripped open so that the bones were visible and the hands and feet would be pierced – pierced, Isaiah says, for our transgressions, for our sins. But David concludes the Psalm by writing that this One who will suffer so greatly will be helped by the Lord, and will return to tell of God’s name in the assembly of the brethren. And so Jesus tells the disciples that death will not be the end, but that He would rise again after three days. He knew exactly the nature of His own sufferings He would very soon endure, and He tells the disciples in advance.
Now perhaps you recall that on the night all these events began to come to pass, Jesus prayed to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, saying, “Father, if it possible, let this cup,” – the cup of suffering He was about to drink – “pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” And the cup did not pass. More than just the nature of His suffering, Jesus also foreknew …
2. The necessity of His suffering (v30-33)
There is a very important word in v31 that we will easily miss if we do not take in each word with careful attentiveness. It is the word “Must.” These things must take place. If they do not, then the word of God which predicted them fails. God proves Himself to be a liar and untrustworthy. And closer to home, we are without hope for salvation from our sins, and destined for eternal separation from God. If God is to be faithful, His word to be true, and we are to be saved, then Jesus must go to Calvary just as He has said.
Now, you will notice that Peter moves from a commendable position of faith to a pitiful position of unbelief very quickly. From confessing that Jesus is the Christ, Peter rapidly begins to rebuke His Lord. This is something we must not ever do. We are in no position to rebuke the Lord. But the plan of Christ’s sufferings has caused Peter to stumble in offense. He cannot fathom the notion of a crucified Christ. Admittedly the two words don’t seem to go together very well. But go together they must if there is to be redemption. And Jesus’ sharp rebuke of Peter puts him in his place – “Get behind me Satan.” Now, we might think that sounds a little harsh, but the fact is that anything or anyone that aims to divert Jesus from the God-ordained mission of going to Calvary to die for sins is a tool of Satan, even if it is one of Christ’s own disciples.
Peter’s problem, Jesus says, is that his mind is set on man’s interests not God’s. It is God’s interest to put an end to sin’s oppression of humanity. It is man’s interest to keep Jesus around for personal gain. It is precisely for this reason that Jesus has forbidden the disciples in v30 from telling anyone who He is. With all the mistaken notions of who the Messiah is to be floating around in that environment, if this word gets out, a whole nation will be pressing in on Jesus to divert Him to perform the tasks and mission they think are best, rather than God’s mission to bring about redemption from sin.
Now, if I may here, let me add a word of contemporary significance for the church. We must keep our focus on God’s agenda and His priorities. When mere human thinking diverts us from this, we have fallen under the influence of Satan that would seek to divert us from the divine mission of God. And so no matter how counter-intuitive it may seem, we must always crucify those notions that seem like the right thing to do when they counteract the revealed word of God. Churches are destroyed and the witness of Christ is tarnished in communities when churchmembers refuse to see things from God’s perspective and allow Satan to use them to derail a church from the mission of God. So each of us must be committed to prayer and the study of God’s word so that we are having our minds renewed daily by the Holy Spirit and our priorities in line with God’s. If Peter could fall prey to this subtle tactic of Satan, you and I can too if we are not on our guard.
So, who is Jesus? Well, one might say, it depends on who you ask. To some He is a teacher, a good man, a religious leader, a tragic martyr, a lunatic, or any other speculative guess. It is not uncommon to hear two people disputing with each other, with one or both of them saying, “My Jesus is like this and such,” or “My Jesus would not say or do those things.” In 1989, the rock group Depeche Mode recorded a song called, “Your Own Personal Jesus,” and many people seem to think that they can have a unique one-of-a-kind Jesus that will answer at their beck and call and be for them only what they want Him to be. And so there are many opinions as to who He is. But only one answer is correct. If we want to know who Jesus is, why would we not ask Him, and those who knew Him best? He is the Son of Man, the Messiah-Christ, who has come to suffer and die for our sins that we might be reconciled to God through Him.
It may be that today someone is here who has believed in a very different Jesus than the Christ of Scripture. Well, only one Jesus is the one who saves, and if you have not placed your faith in Him, you are without hope in your sins. But if this very day you would turn to the Christ who lived and died for you, turning from your sins and asking Him to save you and rule over your life as Lord, He will do it. Your sins will be forgiven, and the righteousness that God requires will be added to your account as a gift of His grace, secured for you by His death and resurrection, and you will have eternal life. Someone may need to make that decision today, and our prayer would be that you would do so with all urgency.
Others of you perhaps have still been trying to obey verse 30 – “Don’t tell anyone about Him,” when in fact that prohibition has been lifted long ago. Once the mission of Christ was completed in His death and resurrection, this command was changed from “Don’t tell,” to “Go tell.” Go tell your neighbor, your friend, your loved one, some stranger across the street or across the ocean. Tell it unto the nations that Jesus is the Christ who suffered and died for them, and who rose again that they might be saved.
