WHEN JESUS ASKED HIS DISCIPLES ON THE WAY TO CAESAREA PHILIPPI WHO THEY THOUGHT HE WAS, PETER ANSWERED FOR THEM ALL, "YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE "MESSIAH!" [MARK 8: 27-30].
1.) PREDICTION BY JESUS OF HIS COMING PASSION.
2.) CONFUSION ON THE PART OF THE DISCIPLES.
3.) CLARIFICATION.
THERE ARE THREE PASSION PREDICTIONS IN MARK. COMMENTS HAVE ALREADY BEEN MADE WHAT PETER SAID WAS CORRECT. HE UNDERSTOOD HIS UNDERSTAND OF CHRIST'S ROLE AS MESSIAH WAS WRONG. WHY? AFTER PETER'S "CONFESSION, " FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MARKS GOSPEL, JESUS SPOKE ABOUT HIS APPROACHING SUFFERING, DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION. 1.(THE PASSION PREDICTI.ON WAS TO MUCH FOR PETER. HE REBUKED PETER FOR SAYING THESE THINGS. JESUS IN TURNED ADDRESSED PETER IN STRONG TERMS, AND TOLD HIM THAT HE WAS ON THE SIDE OF SATAN [8:33]. HE WENT ON TO EXPLAIN TO HIS DISCIPLES THAT IF THEY WANTED TO BE INVOLVED WITH HIM THEY MUST THROW IN THEIR LOT WITH A SEVANT-KING WHO DENIED HIMSELF TO SPEND LIFE IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS.
TO BELONG TO JESUS MEANS STRIVING TO USE LIFE AS HE DID, NO MATTER WHAT THE COST.MARK [8:38].
THE DISCIPLES FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND JESUS REFERENCE TO HIS COMING PASSION BECAUSE THE THOUGHT OF A SUFFERING DYING MESSIAH WHO WOULD USHER IN A GLORIOUS AGE OF MATERIAL PROSPERITY, POLITICAL PRIVILEGE AND FREEDOM FROM FOREIGN DOMINATION. POSSIBLY THEY THOUGHT THAT THE MESSIANIC AGE WOULD MEAN POSITIONS OF HONOR AND CONDITIONS OF AFFLUENCE FOR THEMSELVES. JESUS TALK ABOUT CARRYING THE CROSS OF SERVANTHOOD IN EVERY SITUATION FELL ON CONFUSED AND DISBELIEVING EARS!
JESUS CONTINUED BY STSTING THAT WITH IN A VERY SHORT TIME HIS DISCIPLES WOULD SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD COME WITH POWER. [MARK 9:1]. HE WAS REFERRING TO HIS APPROACHING CRUCIFIXION. JESUS THE SERVANT-KING, WAS AT HIS MOST POWERFUL IN MARCHIG TO, AND ENDURING, THE AGONY OF THE CROSS.
THE TRANSFIGURATION [MARK 9:2-8] RE-ENACTED THE "THEOPHANY" OF THE [APPEARANCE" OF GOD]." IN EXODUS: [24:15-18]. AS GOD ONCE MANIFESTED HIS GLORY, AT SINAI, TO THE DISCIPLES ON THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION. SO THE CONCLUSION IS OBVIOUS. THE GOD OF ISRAEL HAD KNOWN AND WORSHIPPED THROUGHOUT THE OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD HAD COME AMONG THEM IN JESUS CHRIST. THE WORDS, "LISTEN TO HIM," ECHO DEUTERONOMY [18:15]. WHERE GOD PROMISED ISRAEL THAT AFTER THE DEATH OF MOSES HE WOULD RAISE UP ANOTHER PROPHET (JOSHUA) WHO WOULD LEAD THEM INTO THE PROMISED LAND. THE NEW JOSHUA [CHRIST] WOULD LEAD HIS PEOPLE INTO THE ETERNAL PROMISED LAND.
AS THE GROUP WHICH WITNESSED THE TRANSFIGURATION DESCENDED THE MOUNTAIN, JESUS COMMANDED THEM TO TELL NO ONE WHAT THEY HAD SEEN UNTIL AFTER THE RESURRECTION. HIS DISCIPLES WERE THOROUGHLY CONFUSED BY HIS REFERENCE TO RISING FROM THE DEAD, FOR THEY DID NOT EVEN UNDERSTAND OR BELIEVE THAT HE MUST DIE,[MARK9:9,10.].
JESUS ENTERED JERUSALEM ON PSALM SUNDAY. THOUGH THE MODE OF ENTRY WAS HUMBLE, IT WAS NEVERTHE LESS A SIGN AN ASSERTION, [MARK 11:1-1O]. WHEN A KING WENT TO WAR, HE RODE A HORSE. WHEN HE WAS ON A MISSION OF PEACE, HE RODE A DONKEY. THE CROWDS MISSED THE POINT JESUS WAS MAKING; THEY WERE LOOKING FOR A WARRIOR KING. FURTHERMORE, THEY FORGOT WHAT ZECHARIAH HAD WRITTEN LONG BEFORE ABOUT HOW THEIR KING WOULD EVENTUALLY COME TO THEM, (ZECHARIAH 9:9). TO FULFILL ANCIENT PROPHESY IN MATT:21:4,5], THAT HER KING WAS COMING TO HER RIDING HUMBLY ON A DONKEY'S COLT FOR THE RESTORATION OF JUDAH. IMMEDIATELY BEFORE AND AFTER THE THREE PASSIONS PREDICTIONS, JESUS GAVE SIGHT TO A
BLIND PERSON. DO YOU SEE CLEARLY THE KIND OF MESSIAH HE CAME TO BE?
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE KIND OF LIFE TO WHICH HE CALLS YOU? ARE YOU CONTENT WITH BLURRY VISION, OR DO YOU WANT HIM TO SHARPEN YOUR- FAITH-SIGHT? ARE YOU, PERHAPS BLIND EVEN THOUGH YOUR EYES ARE OPEN? DO YOU NEED THE GIFT OF SIGHT ONLY HE CAN GIVE?
THE THIRD PASSION: WAS THE CLARIFICATION BY JESUS CONCERNING THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE MESSIANIC AGE FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO BE INVOLVED IN
IT. HEALING BY DEGREES WAS QUITE RARE. THIS IS LIKE A ACTED PARABLE. DISCIPLES HAVE BEGUN TO SEE, BUT REMAIN BLIND., UNTIL HE TOUCHES THEM AGAIN AT HIS RESURRECTION. [MARK9:9].
LONG BEFORE, DAVID DECLARED THAT SOLOMON WAS TO BE HIS SUCCESSOR AND THAT HE WAS TO RIDE ON DAVIDS MULE [1 KINGS 33,38]. TO WHAT ONCE HAD BEEN KNOWN AS " THE CITY OF DAVID. [2 SAMUEL 5:9; ]. LUKE 2:11].
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