The Most Important Question

Reflections on Mark 8:27-38

“Who do you say I am?” This question that Jesus asked his disciples, and asks each of us, is the most important question we have to answer, because the answer to that question has profound implications on our life, and on our salvation. It is no trivial matter in coming to terms with the identity of Jesus. What a person thinks about Jesus, believes about Jesus, matters.
Some believe Jesus is a wonder-worker, a healer. They look to Jesus as one whom they hope will save them of their problems or bring healing into their life. They are looking for a blessing. They are looking for prosperity. They are looking for a victorious life. They look to Jesus and believe, as Jesus says, “whatever you ask for in my name, I will do it.” Jesus wants to bless us. Jesus wants to give us the victory. We just have to trust Jesus and everything will be all right, because Jesus works miracles. He will give us an abundant life. He is a wonder-worker.
Some believe Jesus is a prophet. He speaks truth to power. He uncovers the hypocrisy of the religious leaders and lifts up the dignity of the downtrodden and discounted. He comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. He proclaims a call to true holiness based on the heart and not on external appearance or ethnicity. Jesus echoes the message of all the great prophets, calling the people to repent and return to God with a pure heart.
Some believe Jesus is a great teacher. Through his parables he imparts deep spiritual truths that instruct us on how we should live. His wisdom is profound. In Jesus’ teachings we find truth that is purer than gold, that is timeless, and a sure foundation upon which to build one’s life.
When Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” all the disciples answered. The responses of the people were unbiased. They reflected what they had seen and heard about Jesus. Their opinion of Jesus was not completely correct. The opinions of the masses was only partially true. People in general had impressions of who Jesus was. But they did not have the complete picture.
So it was that Jesus invited his disciples to reflect more deeply by asking them, “But who do you say I am?” That question infers that Jesus is more than what most people believed. And whereas before, all the disciples responded to the question Jesus asked, this time only Peter spoke by saying, “You are the Christ.” God gave Peter that revelation. By God’s grace, Peter was able to confess that Jesus was more than a wonder-worker, more than a prophet, more than a teacher. He is the anointed one, the redeemer, the messiah, the Christ. Making that confession has implications too. If Jesus is the Christ, then the implication would be a desire to follow Him, for the Christ comes to save, to redeem, to lead out of bondage into freedom.
So, if the disciples believe that Jesus is the Christ, then Jesus tells them what the implications are. Jesus says, “If any want to become my followers…” Note here that no one is compelled to follow Jesus. No one is coerced. But each person is free to choose whether or not they will follow Jesus. Along with answering the question, “Who is Jesus,” is the related choice, “Will you follow Him?” If a person, who believes that Jesus is the Christ, desires to follow Him, this is what that person must do.
First, you must deny yourself. The word used for “deny” is the same word used when Peter denied knowing Jesus. When Peter was questioned whether he was one of Jesus’ followers, Peter denied it. He said, “I do not belong with him. I do not know him.” Peter renounced Jesus. He separated himself from any relationship with Jesus. He distanced himself from him. This is what Jesus is demanding of one who would follow him. The follower of Jesus must first renounce himself. You are to distance yourself from yourself. That is, you are to renounce any attachment to your self-interest or selfish desires and ambitions. You are to disregard any notion of what belongs to you, what you deserve, what is in your rights to have. You are to care nothing for your self. How many of us stumble at this beginning point? How many of us are often more concerned about self-preservation, self-interest, for what makes us comfortable? Our self-centeredness is profound and is nourished by a self-centered society. The only way to break out of our selfishness is by the grace of God to assist us. We cannot do it on our own.
Second, you must take up your cross. The cross was the first century version of the lynching tree or the electric chair. It is designed to be a shameful way to die. What does it mean to embrace the first century version of the lynching tree as your lot? When Jesus tells us to take up our cross, it is to be ever mindful of our mortality, and the truth that in the great scheme of things, our deaths will be hardly noticed by anybody. In a way, constantly acknowledging our mortality and our general insignificance in the scope of time helps us put into proper perspective our own self. Why get caught up in your own life, in what you want and desire, when your life is basically meaningless? You can gain the whole world, and you will still die and be forgotten as time rolls on. How much do we resist contemplating our own mortality. How much we refuse to own up to the truth that when we die, most of the world won’t even know we existed, and even those we leave behind, although they will grieve, will pick up and move on in their lives without us. To ponder our mortality is truly depressing. And Jesus says, if you want to follow him, you have to carry your cross, you have to be ever mindful of your own mortality. Only by the grace of God can we get to this second implication of being a follower of Jesus. Disavowing self-interest and acknowledging one’s mortality go hand in hand.
Third, Jesus says that by denying your self, by being mindful of your death that will be unacknowledged by most people, you then follow Jesus. Where is Jesus? Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven. By following Jesus, you eventually end up before the Throne of God. You end up in Paradise. You end up in a place so beautiful, so peaceful, so filled with life, beauty and rapture, that puts all the glories of this world to shame. The greatest riches of this world pale in comparison to the great riches that await those who enter paradise. The end of the journey to where Jesus is, is a glorious end. And as the grace of God helps us deny ourselves, and helps us be mindful of our mortality and general insignificance, so it is by God’s grace that we find ourselves eventually before His Throne. And it is by God’s grace that we will hear those glorious words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master.”
If any of you are like me, I’m still stuck on the first requirement of following Jesus. I believe Jesus is the Christ, as I’m sure you all do as well. But my selfishness is deep. I suppose I am not alone. Let this be continually our prayer, that God would forgive us, that God would help us die to ourselves, fill us with the Holy Spirit and with joy, and grant us grace and mercy. If there’s anything we learn from this passage, it is that we cannot save ourselves. We don’t need a miracle worker. We don’t need a prophet. We don’t need a teacher. We need a savior. And Jesus Christ is our savior. And if we are mindful of Christ’s invitation to follow Him, and allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, day by day, year by year, we can hope to slowly deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him into paradise.