Mark 8:27-38 (NRSV)
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
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. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 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.”
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
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"What Jesus [says] is totally incomprehensible to them. “Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: ‘The Human One must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts, and be killed, and then, after three days, rise form the dead.’” Mark’s gospel then adds “He said this plainly.” He used common, matter-of-fact words to convey this so that they would know he was not speaking in metaphor or symbolic language. He meant exactly what he said. He himself had already accepted this as the only way forward. He would die to reveal the depth of human brokenness shown in the way we destroy each another. He is not placating an angry God, he is revealing the hidden root of violence in all human cultures and it isn’t pretty. His willingness to do this reveals a God of love far beyond their imaginations.
"Suddenly the disciples have been pulled back from visions of a Jewish Caesar, their ancient dream come true: retribution for all the abuse, taxation and humiliation they have suffered at the hands of Rome to the image of a vulnerable Messiah who dies at the hands of their own religious leaders and political enemies and then somehow rises from the dead. This is impossible, incomprehensible, and very alarming.
"Peter grabs hold of Jesus and scolds him in an attempt to set him straight. Jesus is saying things that frighten Peter. Jesus has just placed Peter’s identity, self-understanding and way of life under threat. He must get Jesus to reverse his position. You can’t be a Jewish Caesar this way! Jesus must now publicly offend Peter to snap him out of his fantasy and back into a reality Peter does not want to see. “Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, and sternly corrected Peter. “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”
"Peter is thinking the way we humans do. His categories are power, coercion and the peace that comes from the imposition of our will over those we consider wrong, dangerous or inferior. But this is not God’s way. [...] Everything in Peter wants to have power and not be vulnerable. If Peter wishes to follow Jesus he must deny in himself that need for power, dominance and the capacity to visit revenge on those he sees as opposing or oppressing him.
[...]
"Jesus calls us all into question when he asks, “Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives?” Will they give up violence? Will they give up the things that lead to violence? This is the center of Mark’s gospel, the heart of what Mark wants to tell us. It challenges us to the core and forces us to decide who we think Jesus is. Is he the Son of God who shows us the face of God? If we embrace him, we may struggle with shame for we know many will call us naïve, gullible and even weak. Embrace him anyway."
- Tom Truby, from sermon “A Love You Can’t Escape.” (https://girardianlectionary.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Truby-Proper19-2018-A-Love-You-Cant-Escape.pdf)
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"Violent retributive people (and Christians who believe in a retributive god) cannot handle a message of complete and utter grace, of unconditional forgiveness nor are they truly able see themselves as weak and helpless before God. They believe God has blessed them because they are doing so well and those who aren’t doing as well have obviously (so they say) come under God’s judgment. Jesus speaks a word directly to this. In Matthew 7, Jesus even acknowledges those who will demonstrate great power in the miraculous, yet will fail come judgment precisely because they have not lived a life of forgiveness to others, because instead of being peacemakers they had become war mongers.
"What might a disciple [be ashamed of]? When push comes to shove a disciple might just back off this message of peace in order to save their skin. Jesus says if they do that, if they [are ashamed of] the True Human (“the son of the man”), [he will be ashamed of them] come the end. Why? Because Jesus cannot affirm a person of war; Jesus cannot affirm those who hold grudges, or those who seek legal recompense. This is not who he is, this is not who God is and this is not how God reigns. He must “deny” them.
"In Matthew’s gospel, the hyperbole used has to do with being shunted aside or “cast into fire.” Nobody on the Last Day wants to be the ones who have this happen to them. In order to convey the seriousness of his message Jesus uses standard apocalyptic metaphors of judgment. How serious is this business of peace, of forgiveness, of compassion? Very serious!!! None of this is marginal to the Christian life, indeed all of this is of the essence of the Christian life.
"[... T]his saying is not about one’s relation to God or one’s salvation but about the way one’s life will be judged as faithful to the message and whether or not one capitulates to the world’s message. Will you be a peacemaker or a warmonger? Will you hold grudges, and seek some sort of passive-aggressive retaliation or will you be a peacemaker? Does your social policy sweep aside the immigrant, the poor, the socially marginalized or do you seek active ways to care for those society would rather forget. When you stand before The True Human how will your humanity be judged?"
- Michael Hardin, from FB post on Sep 12, 2024 on Matthew 10:33 “If you deny me, I will deny you.” I have substituted "ashamed" for "deny" in the original post to match the Markan version. Note that in the post Michael mentions and gives a possible explanation for this word difference between the two gospels. (https://www.facebook.com/michaelhardin1517/posts/pfbid0K7vDZ68YeayG7dg2Pkh38mLzNS2eRYHbadRN1qMEhrbFTHLezsCP6Mv1BK2WYRh1l)
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"[...] Jesus now feels confident that now is the time to start to prepare people for the following, and it is *following* that is going to be the important thing, what later the author to the Colossians will call “walking in Christ.”
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” (v34-35)
"[This is the] central point where the shape of discipleship finally becomes clear. And what we're going to see from now on is Jesus will now turn his face back to Jerusalem and start heading there. The second half of the Gospel is this long way of the cross, which is designed to teach and prepare the group of disciples to bear witness to how Jesus did it, so that they, after the resurrection, would be able to bear witness to us, and enable us to enter into that following."
- James Alison, from video "Homily for Sunday 24th in Ordinary Time 2021" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPJb8x4PU8Q)
[Source of link to Tom Truby sermon, and for further analysis and discussion on all this week's lectionary texts: https://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-b/proper19b/]
[Note also that this is the same gospel text as for Lent 2B: https://daveroberts.blogspot.com/2024/02/from-lectionary-for-25-february-2024.html]
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