Consider these questions as you dwell in Mark 8:27-30:

1. Why does Jesus ask his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" How does their response reveal the various perceptions and opinions circulating about Jesus in the community?

2. When Peter confesses, "You are the Christ," what does this statement signify about Peter's understanding of Jesus' identity? How does Jesus respond, and why does he instruct the disciples not to disclose this revelation?

3. How can we apply the disciples' recognition of Jesus as the Messiah to our own lives? What does it mean for us to confess Jesus as the Christ, and how does this confession impact our understanding of salvation and our responsibility to share the gospel with others?

Transcript:

As I said, this is a very familiar passage. I'm sure many of you, when I started reading it, you said, Oh, it's this one. This one occurs in other Gospels too. This is an important moment. What is happening here. They're once again traveling. They're moving away from people, more than likely. Jesus decides to ask people something. The crowds are talking about Jesus. Everyone has, I'm sure, a very strong opinion about Jesus and who he is and whether or not they believe what he's doing and whether or not he is actually the one that they've been hoping for, the Messiah. And so, Jesus asked him, What are people saying about me? Who do people say that I am? And so, the disciples have response, John the Baptist, which we've seen that John the Baptist was killed. And you got to wonder, do these people think that he's John the Baptist back from the dead? Obviously, they would have to think that because they would have to know that John the Baptist was dead. Others say he might be Elijah or one of the other prophets. And so, the people are understanding, of course, that this is a divine thing that is happening.

Whenever there is a lot of miracles going on in the Old Testament, God is working, and they can see these miracles, and they have this idea that God is working. But they are thinking maybe Jesus is one of those prophets who's come back because they know that something major is happening. But Jesus has a question. Who do you say that I am? Now, not what do the people have to say? Those of you who know me intimately, those of you who are the ones spending time with me. Who do you say that I am? Well, Peter is the one who speaks up here. He says, You are the Christ. Peter's nailed it. Peter has absolutely nailed it. Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the Anointed One of God. And they can see this. And so for all the foibles that the disciples make and have made so far in the Gospel of Mark and the ones we know that are coming yet, they are properly able to identify who Jesus is. They understand who he is. They understand that this power that he has is of God, that he is the Anointed One.

He's the Christ. He is the Messiah. And so, what does Jesus do? He tells them strictly not to tell anyone about him. Now, you read this and you go, Okay, Jesus, this is good. We understand what you're doing. You're the one who's in charge here, but people are talking about you in this way. You're doing all these miracles. What do you think they're going to think about you? But Jesus still has this element of the Messianic secret, as we've talked about it. If people were to really know who Jesus was, they wouldn't be patient. They would try to put him into power because they don't understand who the Messiah is. So as we think about this short little passage, there's a pretty easy application for us today. We can have someone come to us and say, Who do the people say that Jesus is? And we could go through the list. He was just a good teacher. Maybe somebody might say, He may have never existed, which is historically absurd. But people have all kinds of things. Other people have all kinds of things to say about Jesus. He was just a good teacher. He was a wise man.

They have all these things, but none of that really matters until we ask the question of ourselves, who do you say that Jesus is? Do we understand that he is the Messiah? Do we understand what that means? What that means is that he has come to save us from our sins. He has come to rescue us, to redeem us, to buy us back. And so, if we understand that about Jesus, if we are able to say, this is who I say you are, Jesus. You are the Christ, and you have died for me. You've taken on the wrath of God for my sin, then that means something very important. It means that we have been saved by his grace. It means that we have the gift of faith that the Holy Spirit gave us when we heard the word and we believed by faith. And so, may we continue to be remembering who Jesus is. May we remember that he is the Christ. He is the chosen one of God. He is the anointed one, and he saves us from our sins. But unlike what we see in this part of the passage, he is not charging us not to tell anyone.

He's charging us to tell everyone. May we share with others this good news of who Jesus is and who we say he is, who he is. May we share that that others may hear and believe the good news.