Mark Reading Plan – W8D5
Week 8 | Day 5 | Mark 8:27-38
Check out all the previous readings here.
Pray
Pause and breathe for a minute. Then ask God to open your eyes and your ears to his Word
Bible Reading (read these verses three times slowly)
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
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. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!”he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
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. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 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.”
Reflection & Questions
Remember the two-stage healing yesterday? Well, today we get the faith lesson Jesus was teaching. Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” After eight chapters of seeing Jesus at work, Peter says, “You are the Messiah.” This is an amazing confession! While this may seem an easy thing to us, for a group of fishermen hanging out with a guy from Nazareth, this is remarkable. The Jews had been waiting thousands of years for the Messiah, God’s King who would save them. Peter is saying Jesus is that person. It seems Peter has got it – he’s seeing clearly.
But hold your horses! After Peter’s confession, Jesus talks of being rejected, having to die and rise again. This didn’t compute to Peter at all. In fact, he takes Jesus aside for a little rebuke. Messiah doesn’t suffer and die! You’re wrong Jesus! But Peter, like the blind man after the first healing, isn’t seeing everything clearly. He’s on the right track, but not fully there yet. It’s going to take the next eight chapters of Mark to see that Messiah saves through suffering – and it must be this way.
And just in case, we don’t get it either Jesus emphasizes: If you follow me you will suffer, too. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must..take up their cross and follow me.” Make sure you’re seeing it clearly: Yes Jesus can be fully trusted, but it doesn’t mean that life will be easy – in fact it will be a life of carrying a cross.
- Are you expecting following Jesus to be a bed of roses or a carrying of a cross? How do you know?
- If you’re carrying a cross, are you trying to put it down or are you looking to God for strength?
Pray
Respond to today’s reading in prayer.
Worship Song
In response to today’s reading, you could use this song to worship Jesus:
Bible Reading
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
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. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!”he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
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. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 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.”
Reflection and Questions
Remember the two-step healing yesterday? Well, today we get the faith lesson Jesus was teaching. Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” After eight chapters of seeing Jesus at work, Peter says, “You are the Messiah.” This is an amazing confession! While this may seem an easy thing to us, for a group of fishermen hanging out with a guy from who says that He is the Son of God, this is amazing! The Jews had been waiting thousands of years for the Messiah who would save them. Peter is saying Jesus is that person. It seems Peter has got it – he’s seeing clearly!
But hold your horses! After what Peter said, Jesus talks of being rejected, having to die and rise again. This didn’t make sense to Peter at all. In fact, he takes Jesus aside to tell JESUS that HE was the one wrong! The Messiah doesn’t suffer and die! You’re wrong Jesus! But Peter, like the blind man after the first healing, isn’t seeing everything clearly. He’s on the right track, but not fully there yet. It’s going to take the next eight chapters of Mark to see that Messiah (Jesus) saves us through His suffering – and it has to be this way.
And just in case, we don’t get it either Jesus tells us: If you follow me you will suffer, too. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must..take up their cross and follow me.” Make sure you’re seeing it clearly: Yes Jesus can be fully trusted, but it doesn’t mean that life will be easy. But with Jesus, we will always be protected and loved.
- What do you think it means to ‘take up your cross’? If you don’t know, talk to you parent or someone at church about it to learn more about what Jesus is telling us to do!
- Have you ever gone through something hard, but you still knew Jesus was there with you? How did you know?
Prayer
Pray and ask Jesus to help you trust Him when life gets hard
Bible Reading
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
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. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!”he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
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. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 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.”
Devo Focus
He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
Devo
Can you imagine telling Jesus he’s wrong?! Peter literally took him aside to rebuke him!! Remember the two-stage healing yesterday? Well, today we get the faith lesson Jesus was teaching. Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” After eight chapters of seeing Jesus at work, Peter says, “You are the Messiah.” This is an amazing confession! While this may seem an easy thing to us, for a group of fishermen hanging out with a guy from Nazareth, this is remarkable. The Jews had been waiting thousands of years for the Messiah, God’s King who would save them. Peter is saying Jesus is that person. It seems Peter has got it – he’s seeing clearly. But hold your horses! After Peter’s confession, Jesus talks of being rejected, having to die and rise again. This didn’t compute to Peter at all. In fact, he takes Jesus aside for a little rebuke. Messiah doesn’t suffer and die! You’re wrong Jesus! But Peter, like the blind man after the first healing, isn’t seeing everything clearly. He’s on the right track, but not fully there yet. It’s going to take the next eight chapters of Mark to see that Messiah saves through suffering – and it must be this way. And just in case, we don’t get it either Jesus emphasizes: If you follow me you will suffer, too. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must..take up their cross and follow me.” Make sure you’re seeing it clearly: Yes Jesus can be fully trusted, but it doesn’t mean that life will be easy – in fact it will be a life of carrying a cross.
- Are you expecting following Jesus to be a bed of roses or a carrying of a cross? How do you know?
- If you’re carrying a cross, are you trying to put it down or are you looking to God for strength?
Prayer
Respond to today’s reading in prayer.
