Day 179 of “Reading the Bible in a Year” Mark 8:29–33 29 He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." 30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. 31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." Peter makes this great confession of faith, and then it says, “And he [Jesus] ordered them not to tell anyone about him.” Why? The answer is succinctly captured in our modern phrase, “Hindsight is 20/20.” After Jesus’ death and resurrection the disciples will understand what it meant and what it means that Jesus is the Messiah. Without the resurrection, Jesus is just a would-be leader, who had a large following of admirers. He traveled to the capital city and was arrested by the leaders of his day. He was executed for leading an insurrection, or at least for being a threat to the establishment, to the status quo. With the resurrection, all of what Jesus said and did made more sense. This earthly life is not all there is to our lives. We don’t have to acquire everything we can in this life thinking that is all there is. Because of resurrection to eternal life, we can think beyond what exists now. We can make sacrifices now for the sake of others. Our sacrifices are not equivalent to his sacrifice on the Cross, but they are sacrifices all the same. For some people, life is so good that it is hard to focus on eternal things. For other people, life is so bad that there only hope is in what lies beyond this life. All of us together can focus on making this life better and more loving for all, knowing that we will be joined together one day is God’s heavenly realm. PRAYER Dear Lord Jesus, remind us every day about what kind of Messiah you were. Remind us every day of the kind of lives we are to lead as your disciples. In your name we pray, Amen.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 12:18:41 +0000
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