Hebraic View of Mark 8:27-38

Rev. Dr. Michael H Koplitz

Mark 8:27-38

A 27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he
asked them, "Who do people say I am?"
B 28 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of
the prophets." [the answer]
A’ 29 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
B’ Peter answered, "You are the Messiah." [the answer]
30
Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

A 31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed
and after three days rise again. 1
B 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke
him.
B’ 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get
behind me, Satan!" he said.
A’ "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

A 34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to
be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 2
B 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for
me and for the gospel will save it.
B’ 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or
what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
A’ 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation,
the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father's glory with the
holy angels." 3

Contemplation question: are you ready to give up everything if called to do so in the name of
Jesus Christ?

Commentary: this passage of Scripture is displayed for you and it’s chiastic form. You can see
the flow of Jesus discussion with his disciples and with Peter. When Jesus tells his disciples
that he will have to die on the cross at the hands of man he is attempting to turn the opinion of
his disciples to the true meaning of what the Messiah was coming to earth to do. The main
idea about the Messiah was that he would come and restore the kingdom of Israel sit upon the
throne of David. This comes from the promise God made to David that someone from his line
would always sit on the throne of Israel. But that is not the messianic solution that Jesus was
here to do.

1
This is a foreshadowing of what was going to happen. After this conversation Mark’s Gospel enters Passion Week.
2
“take up their cross and follow me” is a Mark adaptation to Jesus’ call to discipleship. This can be seen as a
foreshadowing literary device used to let Jesus’ followers during the 66 CE revolt what was going to happen to them
and Jesus will be there to receive them. Dying for Jesus was expected and considered almost “sacred.”
3
Verse 38 is an antithesis of verse 34 which can be used in chiasms.
It is not until after Jesus death and resurrection at the church realized that Jesus came as the
suffering servant as told to us by Isaiah the prophet, which can be found in the book of Isaiah
chapters 51 through 55.

When we come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and we are either baptized or
confirmed in the church essentially we are giving up our old life to gain a new life with Jesus in
that we follow the gospel and we go out and spread the word. For the early church becoming a
member meant selling all of your possessions and placing the money at the feet of the apostles.
Take a look at the Book of Acts to learn more about how the early church work. So the initiation
rite was not only baptism but joining the Christian community in full communion that is sharing
everything.

Today we don’t expect people to sell all their possessions and give the money to the church. It
would be interesting to consider what would happen to Christianity if these original ideas of the
church were enforced. If you want to become Mormon today they do require that 50% of
everything you own is given to the church. Even with this requirement the Mormon church is
growing. Perhaps it’s because when you make such a financial commitment you are truly a
believer.

God judges how much we value Jesus’ sacrifice by how much we are willing to give to the work
of the gospel without being asked to do so. God will see how many of us do truly tithe and how
willingly we want to do that. For many of us in today’s economy just tithing is picking up our
cross because we have to live in a different lifestyle for you to do such a thing.

Jesus does give us the reward for becoming a faithful disciple. He’s actually doing it by giving
us the antithesis of it. Being a good disciple means we will not have to forfeit our soul to the
ways of evil but rather God will be inviting us to join him in heaven.