A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Mike preached on the
theme of
the messianic secret in Mark’s Gospel. In case you weren’t there, or if
you need a
refresher, the phrase “messianic secret” refers to the theme in Mark's
Gospel of Jesus' repeated silencing of those who identify him as the Son
of God or the Messiah.
In the same way
English teachers instruct their students to place their thesis
statements
somewhere in the first paragraph of their essays, Mark includes a number
of instances
of this theme prominently in the first chapter of his Gospel. It’s as if
Mark
is saying, “Hey, readers! Pay attention to this. It’s really important!”
But the most prominent example of the messianic secret occurs in Mark 8:29–30,
where Peter confesses Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus “sternly ordered them not
to tell anyone about him.”
This week’s passage falls directly on the heels of
Peter’s confession
and Jesus’ subsequent command of silence. And here we find a surprising
contrast to Jesus’ desire to keep his identity under wraps. Suddenly,
Jesus is
talking about himself as the “son of man” who must suffer and die, and
as verse
32 states, “He said all this quite openly.” Note that shift.
In the span
of two
verses Jesus goes from commanding silence to speaking “quite openly”
about his
identity. But note also the shift in subject matter. Jesus silences
those who
would impose upon him their expectations of what the messiah is supposed
to be.
Perhaps Peter and the others expected him to be a great military
leader;
hence Peter’s rebuke when he hears Jesus speak of suffering. To the
contrary,
Jesus identifies as the “son of man” or “human being,” who, instead of
leading
a violent revolution against the Roman occupation, would be on the
receiving
end of Rome’s violence.
And so when Jesus urges his followers to take up
their crosses, he calls them (his disciples then and his disciples
today) to reject the way of violence and to stand in solidarity with
those who suffer. |
