They Get It! Well, Sort Of

Meditations of the Gospel of Mark

September 8, 2020

They Get It! Well, Sort Of.

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”

Mark 8:29

Read: Mark 8: 22-30

Mark remembers two episodes in Jesus’ travels with his disciples in today’s reading. First, Jesus heals a blind man, then Jesus challenges the disciples to make a declaration, “Who do people say I am?” I will comment on this later episode.

Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi, which is due north of the Sea of Galilee near Mt. Hermon and the head waters of the Jordan River. The town has a Roman name because in it is a temple built to the Roman god, the Emperor. Against this backdrop Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” Peter answers, “You are the Messiah.”

The Jews expected their Messiah to do three things. First, he would cleanse the Temple. Second, he would defeat the invading Roman army. Third, as the true and final King of Israel, he will rule the entire world with truth and justice.

With that understanding, we can begin to see how Jesus confused both his disciples and the Pharisees. Jesus was God’s Messiah, but both God and Jesus had a different perspective on the mission of the Messiah than that of the disciples and the Pharisees. But it is still early. The Resurrection is just beyond the horizon.

My Takeaway: In time, the disciples, if not the Pharisees, would grasp the mission of the Messiah as so eloquently proclaimed by the Apostle Paul:

 “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself.” (1 Corinthians 3: 16-17, 6:19)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.