Mark 8:31-9:1 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… Having elicited Peter's noble confession, Jesus puts the disciples to further proof by declaring that "the Son of man" - his own lowly title, contrasting so strangely with Peter's word - must "suffer," "and be rejected," "and be killed," "and after three days rise again." And this was said in no enigmatical or hidden way, but "openly." Whereupon the weaker side of Peter's character obtruded itself: he "took him and began to rebuke him." The Messianic hopes which had been expressed by the confession, and confirmed by the Lord's testimony to that confession, were contradicted, if not dashed to the ground, by the suggestion of a suffering and conquered Christ. "This shall never be unto thee." Now does Peter need correction. The strong word of which shows how good and bad may mingle in our present imperfectness. The great proto-confessor denies his Lord by denying the true spirit to Christ, and by opposing his earthly to the heavenly method of conquest - "the things of men" to "the things of God." In the yet imperfect heart, though, indeed, taught of God, this would be a prevailing of the "gates of Hades." Therefore we must say, "Be it far from thee, Lord." In presence of the disciples, for their instruction, as for Peter's correction, the Lord utters his displeasure in the strongest terms - terms quite sufficient to prevent any boasting on account of the previous honorable distinction. "Get thee behind me, Satan." So near the words spoken "to the evil one," "Get thee hence, Satan." One only word is needed to add to this by way of explication, "Thou art a stumbling-block to me;" and another word by way of application, "For thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men." Is it so, then, that "the things of men" stand in direct contradiction to "the things of God" ? That which is purely "of men" do; and all that is not "of God" is of the adversary, "Satan," and must be silenced. That silencing is effected by words which have ever since appeared as in letters of fire Over the gate of entrance to discipleship. And "the multitude" is "called" together to hear them. "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." How simple, yet how comprehensive! how easy, and yet how difficult, is this tri-unity of duty! In its simplest presentation it is: 1. A thorough, complete, continuous, self-denial. 2. A patient endurance. 3. A diligent obedience. With men this is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God. I. It was not only during the early struggles of the Church of Christ, or merely in its conflict with the and-Christian world, that the disciple must needs "deny himself." It is the groundwork of all discipleship, and finds its necessity in the natural revulsion from the duties, the restraints, and the discipline of the gospel. That it should be more needful to urge the necessity for a total self-abnegation in the midst of an unfriendly, antagonistic worldly power, is obvious. But a spirit of self-indulgence is wholly removed from the idea of the disciple of Jesus. The habitual refusal to hearken to the appeals of the sinful self when those appeals contradict the voice of conscience, the inward echo of Christ's outward voice, is a rule allowing of no relaxation, even under the most favorable religious influences. The true idea of the disciple suggests the absolute, unconditional self-surrender - the whole life laid at the feet of the Master. II. The subsequent words point to a buying of the life at the expense of the life. A paradox designed to awaken thought, and that finds its solution in the dual character of life. The outward and visible, the inward and spiritual; the life temporal, and the life eternal. In Jesus' view a man might suffer, be rejected of men, be killed, and yet truly "save his life" and "find it;" while, on the other hand, a man might save his life from the toils, the sacrifices, the self-inflictions and self-denials which discipleship would require, from the cruelties of men, from the death which human hands could inflict, and yet "lose his life"- lose life in the truest, highest, best, and therefore only real sense. Jesus saw that, so far from losing all, a man might gain all - all the world could give him - the "whole world" itself; yet all this might be at the forfeiture of the life. And if he forfeit his life, "what shall a man give in exchange for" it again? Once forfeited, it is forfeited for ever. There is no possibility of returning to regain it. Well were it, therefore, for his disciples to carry a cross daily, a symbol of dying to self, to sin, and the world, and in the patient endurance of that self-inflicted death to find the true life - the life in Christ, the life in the region of righteousness, and the pledge of a being "raised up" to life everlasting. Before the words were formulated, the disciples of Jesus attained the high estate, "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me: and," with a reaching far and forward, "that life which I now live in the flesh, I live in faith." III. It was in this spirit of unflagging obedience - even to a hard, self-restraining, self-denying, and self-crucifying rule - that the disciple was, with his far-reaching and fore-reaching vision, to "live in faith," anticipating the time when "the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and render unto every man according to his deeds." After these hard sayings with which Jesus had shaken the hearts of the disciples, and proclaimed to the "great multitude" the severity of his rule, he comfortingly assures them of the nearness of his kingdom, by declaring "some of them" should "in no wise taste of death" till they had seen it "come with power." - G. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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