Jesus' Identity

Harvest Pointe Methodist Church

For us here, let's turn to the gospel according to Mark, chapter eight. So the Gospel of Mark, chapter eight. And once you found mark eight, go ahead and stand for our gospel reading this morning.

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As you know, and as we've been saying, we've been in year, or we are in year b, which deals with Mark. So, A, Matthew, B, Mark C, Luke. Right. Makes sense, doesn't it? With the gospel of John interspersed through all three of the years.

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Okay, so it's a three year cycle of scripture readings. And today the readings have already been great. But catch this one. This is one of the most important, if not the most important section within the gospel of Mark because it is a turning point. There's a pivot here.

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This is Mark, chapter eight. And we'll start reading with verse 27. Notice these words here this morning. This is the word of God. Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

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And on the way, he asked his disciples, who do people say that I am? And they answered him. John the Baptist and others, Elijah and still others. One of the prophets, he asked them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, you are messiah, you are Christ.

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That's the terminology there. And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Then he began to teach them that the son of man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed. And after three days, rise again. He said all this quite openly, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

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But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, get behind me, Satan, for you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things. He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it. And those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life or their soul?

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Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of them, the Son of man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels. Lord, we thank you for this reading from your holy word. Would you now, O Holy Spirit, come and enlighten us and teach us? Just as Jesus taught these first disciples, we pray in your name.

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Amen. And you can be seated.

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Today's readings have a thread, and they often do. If you look through the Old Testament into the psalm and into the epistle reading or the New Testament reading, and then into the gospel, there's often a thread that will hold these four readings together. One of those threads is the idea of teaching. If you can remember, in the Isaiah reading, we're being taught about the suffering servant, as Derek pointed out, this suffering messiah. Okay, keep that in mind.

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The psalm reading also speaks of teaching and teaching us again with its understanding of how God is actually full of compassion, and that when we call upon him, that he hears us and that he's merciful, and we must call upon him as if we were the student and he the teacher, not vice versa. Never vice versa. In fact, he helps me. Okay. And then finally, in the James reading, of course, it begins with many of you shouldn't be teachers, because teachers are held at a stricter judgment than everyone else.

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It's a warning for teachers, and all teachers ought to heed that warning. And ultimately, we all are teachers to some degree, aren't we? We really are. Whether we're teaching our children by our actions, day in, day out, and day out, or we're teac