“What about you? Who do you say I am?” ~Mark 8:29

I imagine the apostle Peter answers Jesus’ question immediately. Peter doesn’t do dead air. He’s going to speak first, think later. Ready-fire-aim! — that’s Peter. Always jumping in, always shooting off his mouth. But, here, he gives the exact right answer:

“You are the Christ!” ~Mark 8:29

You are the Anointed One, the Messiah. You are the Holy One of Israel. You’re the one who was prophesied about, the one we’ve been praying for our whole lives, the one we’ve been waiting for for generations. You’re the one, Jesus! You are the Christ! You are the Lord!

“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this…” ~Mark 8:31-32

The other Gospel writers tell us this was the first time Jesus had mentioned to them that he was going to die. He spoke plainly about it.

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

Peter’s very first words in this story are, “You are the Christ.” But his very next actions say, “No, you’re really not.”

“You are the Christ” means “You are the boss.” You are Lord. You are the sovereign ruler over all the earth and you are the sovereign ruler over me. Whatever you say, goes. That’s what it means to say Jesus is the Christ. But Peter follows up his declaration by telling Jesus they were not going to do what he said needed to happen. He began to rebuke the one he called Christ. “Nobody is dying here, Jesus–not you, not me, not any of us.” It was a very confusing confession.

“‘Get behind me, Satan!’ Jesus said. ‘You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of people!'” ~Mark 8:33

Peter, you are more worried about what people say than what God says. You’re trusting your own feelings and instincts more than you’re trusting the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Peter seems perfectly fine with Jesus being Lord as long as Jesus is sensible. Peter is good with declaring Jesus as the Christ, the Lord of his life. But as soon as Jesus steps out of sensible? Well, that’s when Peter takes over.

Turn the other cheek? Jesus, seriously? Give up my shirt and my coat? Refuse to retaliate? Jesus, if I do that, I’ll be taken advantage of. People are going to walk all over me. Give up wealth and power and force in exchange for love and mercy and grace? I know that’s what we talk about in church, but that’s not how the real world works, Jesus. You’re out of touch. Protect the outsiders? Give up my rights? Jesus, did I hear you right? Love my enemies? I don’t even like my friends! If you’re not sensible, you’re no longer my authority. You are not my Christ.

That’s a confusing confession.

Some churches do this.

Lord, we know you said give freedom to prisoners and release the captives from their bondage, but you want our church to pay off people’s debt? Their medical debt? Their school cafeteria debt? But we’ve never met these people! How will they know it’s us? How many of these people will come to our church? What kind of return are we getting on our money? It doesn’t make sense.

Jesus healed ten lepers and only one of them even said “Thank you.” But the Gospel point of that story is not that you’d better be extra cautious about how much of God’s grace you dole out to strangers.

You are the Christ as long as you’re sensible.

I wonder if that kind of behavior confuses Jesus.

What’s the deal, Peter? Have I lost my mind? Because you’re with me when I say love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. You’re with me when I say be faithful to your spouse and don’t forsake the assembly. But when I tell you to lend to those who ask, suddenly I’m not making sense? Your commitment, Peter, is not to my lordship, it’s to your own logic. Your obedience is to the values of the world instead of the values of the Kingdom of God.

There’s a difference between following Jesus because it makes sense and following Jesus because he is the Christ.

How confusing is your confession?

Peace,

Allan