Title: Jesus and Us
Contents
Bible Text: Mark 8:27-38
jesus and us
What will be our relationship with Jesus? Mark begins with the first words of his Gospel, “It is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). The word gospel means good news. So what is the good news? We have looked at who Jesus is, a descendant greater than David, the rejected and despised one, and the One who will come again to judge. But where is the good news for us in this? Understanding God through the Incarnation? Guarantee of final merit? These two facts are good and important, but there is another fact that is really good and important.
ransom for sinners
We discover the good news only when we know the reason why Jesus came. So far, we have seen the following prophecies about the Messiah through the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised, rejected by men, afflicted with sorrow, acquainted with afflictions, and was despised, as men hid his face from him, and we did not esteem him.
However, Isaiah 53 continues to prophesy:
Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our sorrows and carried our sorrows; but we thought that he was chastised, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:5 He was pierced for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and with his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Just before entering Jerusalem for the last week of his public ministry, Jesus said to his disciples:
Mark 10:45 The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
This man who came to serve is the very person Isaiah foretold in chapter 53. The one who was pierced in our transgressions and crushed by our iniquities, and who through his wounds led us to peace and healing, is the one who came and gave his life as a ransom for many. Jesus knew that Isaiah 53 was about him. He is the God who came in the flesh to be despised by men, to repent of their sins, and to give his life as a ransom for all who believe in him.
Isaiah goes on to say that this promised one is a trespass offering and that he will justify many by bearing their iniquities.
Isaiah 53:10 The LORD wants him to be bruised, so that he should be afflicted: when he brings his soul as a trespass offering, he will see seed, and his days will be long, and his hand will do the pleasure of the LORD.
Isaiah 53:11 He will see the toil of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge he will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
Let's listen again to Mark 10:45, the words of Jesus Himself.
Mark 10:45 The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Jesus came to serve the bruised. He came to give his life as a ransom by becoming a trespass offering to bear their transgressions.
Peter's example
If the Gospel of Mark is a book about who Jesus is, it is also a book about who we are and what his claims mean to our lives. His argument is comprehensive. How does Jesus express it in 8:34?
Mark 8:34 He called the crowd and his disciples and said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
To see what it means to deny ourselves and take up our cross, we can look to the disciples as an example. We can especially look at Peter, the head of the disciples.
As we have seen, according to tradition, the Gospel of Mark relates to the Christian community in Rome. Taking evidence from the Gospel of Mark itself, it is presumed that the book was written in Rome. Mark explains Jewish customs.
Mark 7:3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews did not eat food without washing their hands, according to the tradition of the elders.
Mark 7:4 And when he comes back from the market, he does not eat without watering it, and there are other things that are observed with the washing of cups, bowls, and bronze vessels.)
Mark 14:12 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the day of the slaughter of the Passover lamb, the disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go to prepare for you to eat the Passover?"
Mark 15:42 Since this day was the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath, when it was evening
Particular attention is paid to the translation of Aramaic expressions into Greek.
Mark 3:17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and to these two were added the names Bonus, the son of Thunder.
Mark 5:41 He took the child by the hand and said to him, "Talithagum." When translated, I say to you, little girl, get up.
Mark 7:11 You say, "It is enough if a man says to his father or his mother, that what I will offer for profit is Corban, that is, it is given to God.
Mark 7:34 He looked up to heaven, and sighed, saying to him, Ephah, which means that it will be opened.
Mark 15:22 And they led Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which translates to the place of the skull).
Mark 15:34 At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama, sabachthani. When translated, it means, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
He also uses Latin words such as army, denarius, braidorion, etc.
Mark 5:9 Then he asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "My name is Army, for we are many."
Mark 12:15 Shall we give or not? Jesus, knowing his hypocrisy, said to him, "Why are you testing me? Take a denarius and show me."
Mark 12:42 A poor widow came and put in two leps, a godrant.
Mark 15:16 The soldiers led Jesus into the court of Braidorion, and gathered the whole army together.
Mark 15:39 When the centurion, who was standing toward Jesus, saw that he had died, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”
And how amazing was Peter? The first readers of this Gospel may have encountered Peter 30 years ago, as a young man filled with the passion of his deceased beloved shepherd. Let's take a look at his appearance in Chapter 8. Then in Caesarea Philippi, he was the first of his disciples to confess that Jesus was the Messiah. Can you imagine the joy of discovering the hope of the times?
Then notice him after a few verses. When Jesus said that the Son of Man must be put to death, Peter caught Jesus and protested.
Mark 8:32 After saying these things openly, Peter took Jesus and protested.
Mark 8:33 Jesus turned and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan, for you do not think about the things of God, but rather the things of men.”
He tried to change God's eternal plan for Jesus. He tried to teach the One who planned it all before the beginning. He dared to tell him how to be the Messiah. Here's the best scoop of all time, which is that Jesus spoke to him as if he had a devil because Peter made an absurd mistake to manipulate him. “Get behind me, Satan.”
Then, in chapter 14, when Jesus told His disciples that they would forsake Him, who was the one who protested the loudest? This is Peter. “Even if I throw it all away, I will not.” And when he got out of the boat and started to drown while walking on the water, or when he pulled out his sword and cut off a man's ear, Peter was serious, but he acted thoughtlessly like a bluff. A few verses later, Peter fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane despite Jesus' warning, and after that he was like this all the time. You will hear the words of Bethel ringing in your ears now. “Even if I throw it all away, I will not.”
When Jesus was arrested, all the disciples abandoned him and fled.
Mark 14:50 All the disciples forsook Jesus and fled.
Even there, Peter's words will ring in your ears. “Even if I throw it all away, I will not.”
As if that wasn't enough, Peter's mistake only got worse. The following words in the Gospel of Mark are cold and harsh. I remember what Peter said when a slave girl asked him if he had been with Jesus.
Mark 14:68 Peter denied it and said, "I neither know nor understand what you are talking about." And he went out into the front yard.
It would be ok to retract and undo this once in a while. Even when the second question was asked, Peter denied knowing Christ. But the fearful words were most clearly stated when the third question was given.
Mark 14:71 But Peter cursed and swore, "I do not know this man of which you are speaking."
Who was the greater traitor? Is it Judas? Or is it Peter?
But the story of Mark's Gospel is not over yet. Would you like to see the last sentence of that chapter?
Mark 14:72 Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. So Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him, that before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.
This is neither a pointless description nor a trivial comment. In those tears, Peter's earnest wish is contained. True repentance often has the power to make you realize the weight of your sins and the magnitude of your needs. It can come like a blue sky. So it can make you shed tears of penance. If it is godly sorrow, it makes a difference.
Peter was the leader of the disciples, who wandered between confusion and confession, a cowardly wife and a bold promise. And he was also able to weep. If you want to look to Jesus to know who He is, you must look to yourself to know who you are. And if you're looking at yourself right, it'll start with weeping.
May God first give us eyes to see the truth about ourselves, and then work to see the truth about Jesus, who gave his life as a ransom for many. This was good news for Peter and good news for us at the same time.