Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.”
And he asked them,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said to him in reply,
“You are the Christ.”
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the gospel will save it.”
Mark 8:27-35 Sunday’s Gospel
By the time this incident takes place, Jesus has established his great power over sicknesses, blindness, demons, nature, etc., and he has attracted enormous attention. There is widespread speculation about just who he is—a prophet, a miracle worker, John the Baptist come back from the dead? In a quiet moment he puts the question to his chosen followers. Peter, once again demonstrating his natural leadership abilities, speaks for the group: “You are the Christ” that is, the Messiah, the great Savior of Israel who is to come.
Jesus acknowledges that Peter has spoken the truth. But there were various ideas current among Jewish groups as to just what “the Savior” would be: another David-like conqueror/ruler? A second Moses-figure? A prophetic teacher-wonderworker like Elijah? In some ways Jesus is like all of these, but in one decisive way the truth about him was different. Now that Peter has spoken the truth about his identity, Jesus “began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly.”
That understanding of the Christ/Messiah was on no one’s radar.
Again, it is Peter who steps up, takes Jesus aside, and speaks for them all, rebuking Jesus for such talk.
Carefully note the layout of this tableau: Peter is speaking with Jesus a little apart from the rest of the disciples. To see them Jesus would have to “turn around” and face the other way. So, we have: the crowd nearby but just out of hearing, the group of disciples, a little more space, then Jesus with his back to them, facing Peter, and finally, Peter, who can see the rest of the disciples over Jesus’s shoulder, as he rebukes Jesus.
Peter does not get the response he expects. Jesus is very quick and shows pointed, ironic humor here. Instead of replying to Peter, Jesus turns around, faces the other disciples, and says loud enough for them to hear, “Get behind me, Satan.” And there Peter is—behind Jesus! It is not a stretch to see stunned expressions on the faces of the other disciples as Jesus labels Peter “Satan!”
But, of course, Jesus is not content to leave Peter in this position (and, after all, Peter is speaking for all of them). Jesus waves the crowd to come forward to where his disciples are so they, too, can hear him say:
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the gospel will save it.”
Now that Peter has correctly identified Jesus as the Messiah, everyone must learn what God the Father has always meant when he promised to send a Savior. This understanding will become the new, final, paradoxical keynote of Jesus’ teaching from this very day all the way to the empty tomb and the Resurrection. “Following him to the cross” is what being a “follower” of Jesus means for every disciple. With that clarification, when Jesus glances over his shoulder he sees, now, not Satan, but Peter, first in position to be a follower. A follower who will receive his own cross.
Yes, we know this follower will stumble—and recover. In that, there is hope for us!
For further thought:
In the case of Peter and practically all the rest of the Twelve, “following Jesus to the cross” was fulfilled literally in their death as martyrs. Martyrs have come from every country and in every age of the the Christian faith since then. But it is also true that most Christians are not asked to die as public witnesses. What does following Jesus to the cross mean for them? Note what Jesus says in verse 35:
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the gospel will save it.”
The “life” he speaks of is the life we have, the life we are living right now. Just earlier Jesus has instructed the disciples about the deadly weakness of the life we are living right now. See Mark 7:20-23:
“…what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”
These are evil actions and deeply rooted dispositions — the corruption or uncleanness deep within us, from within our hearts. Those things must go. That is the crucifixion all Christians must undergo. That is the inmost interior self that must die. To lose that life for Christ’s sake and the sake of his Good News will save us into everlasting life. It is the Risen Jesus who lives within us. United to him, we begin to live life as part of his Body–we are, individually, incorporated into his Risen life. And that cannot be taken away from us, just as is cannot be taken away from our Lord.
Confronting what God shows us about our inmost self is painful and hard to give up. Our Lord walks this path with us as we pray, serve, soak in Scripture, and receive him as Eucharist. He knows the way.