Daily Bible Verses | Saint Peter | Take Up Your Cross And Follow Me | Jesus Foretells His Death And Resurrection | Jesus’ Disciples

Christian Art | Jesus | Fishers Of Men

Mark 8: 27-35 – 24th Sunday Year B; also Week 6 Ordinary Time, Thursday (8: 27-33) (Audio Bible, Spoken Word)

27 ¶ And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Cæsarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?
28 And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.
29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
30 And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.
31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
33 But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
34 ¶ And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

Our verses begin with Jesus asking two questions. The first gives us a sense of the rumour and speculation surrounding Jesus as he preaches. The crowds see Jesus as a prophet, wondering if he might be one of the prophets returned. Jesus’ next question, ‘But whom say ye that I am?’ is a call to his disciples for faith and clarity, and Peter obliges, affirming that Jesus is the Messiah. Once more, Jesus charges his disciples to keep this knowledge secret. It is not yet time for our Lord to reveal himself, perhaps because the social situation is too dangerous, perhaps because the multitudes are not yet ready to receive such spiritual truth – we do not know.

For the first time, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus now tells his disciples about the suffering he must endure, specifically at the hands of the Jewish leaders. This must have seemed very strange to his disciples – why did this have to take place? – while the promise of rising again must have seemed unfathomable. Peter begins to protest, and the words Jesus uses to rebuke Peter are those same he addressed to the devil when he was tempted by him. Christ’s mission, to fulfil God’s plan for our eternal salvation, is spiritual and so quite strange to merely earthly understanding, while the temptation here would be to seek fulfilment in earthly goods rather than spiritual. There is much to take place before the disciples can begin to understand more clearly.

Jesus now clearly distinguishes between the spiritual, eternal life and the present life of worldly things and worldly concerns, of the flesh. The present life should be understood in perspective. It will pass away; it is transitory. We are passing through this life toward eternity. To take up our cross, then, is to renounce such attachments as tie us to the life of the flesh and occlude our spiritual experience. We are to let go of our worldly thoughts so that we may have everything following Christ. Even when our difficulties may seem to us harsh indeed, we seek to bear them with a view to eternity.

‘In the Passion, the Cross ceased to be a symbol of punishment and became instead a sign of victory. The Cross is the emblem of the Redeemer: in quo est salus, vita et resurrectio nostra: there lies our salvation, our life and our resurrection.’ St Josemaria Escriva

Audio Bible KJV | Endnotes

Christian Baptism And The Cross | Love Revealed By Jesus

Mark 8: 27-35 is a powerful passage that highlights the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth, his Passion and death on the Cross, and the importance of prayer and baptism in Christian faith.

Jesus asking his disciples who they believe he is. They with various answers. It is Peter who declares that Jesus is the Messiah. This declaration powerfully affirms Jesus’ true identity and his divine nature.

It is significant that Jesus immediately teaches his disciples about his Passion, death, and Resurrection. He tells his disciples that he must suffer and be rejected, and be killed, and after three days rise again. This message is difficult to accept, and Peter even rebukes Jesus for saying this. But Jesus knows that his mission is to give himself for the sake of humanity, and that his death and Resurrection are necessary for salvation of the world.

The Cross is become the central figure Christian faith, of Jesus’ sacrifice – Christian gift for humanity. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, implicit in Jesus of Nazareth being the Messiah,  we receive the gift of life and may be reconciled with God. Our baptism participates in Jesus on the Cross, as it denotes our own death and resurrection in Jesus, our acceptance of the gift of salvation.

Jesus himself prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest and crucifixion, asking God to let the cup of suffering pass from him, but ultimately accepting God’s will. So our prayer is not just about asking for our own needs, but also about surrendering ourselves to God’s will and trusting in his plan for us.

It is in knowledge of the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth, and through Jesus’ Passion and his raising on the Cross, that we are called to deny the false promises of this world, and to follow Jesus with our whole hearts, and so to celebrate our baptism.