“The Things of God, the Things of Man”
In some ways this passage, Peter’s "great confession", is the
lynchpin of Mark’s Gospel. Up until this
point we’ve had many questions swirling about who this Jesus is. Now, Jesus himself poses the question, “Who
do people say that I am?” And after
hearing all the popular answers, sharpens the question, “But who do YOU say
that I am?” And after what I imagine to
be a pregnant pause, Peter, dear Peter pipes up (as he always seems to do). “You are the Christ!”
Jesus accepts this confession. Which is striking in itself. While Jesus rarely is so direct as to
out-and-out claim his status as Messiah, he gives others the opportunity to
confess it – and he accepts that confession.
And now, what makes this so very important, is that Jesus
uses this occasion – now that the cat is officially and openly out of the bag –
yes he’s the Christ, the Messiah. Now
Jesus is going to teach them exactly what that means:
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be
killed, and after three days rise again.
“You confess me as the Christ, well that’s good that you do,
Peter. But before we go any further
let’s talk about just what the Christ is here to do. I’m heading to Jerusalem. Oh, I know that’s where my enemies are
strongest, my opposition the fiercest.
But that’s precisely the point.
There I will be rejected, officially.
There I will have to suffer many things.
It’s going to be so bad, actually, that they will put me to death. But after the third day, I will rise again.”
Mark says he told them this plainly. There were no parables, no figures of
speech. No encoded messages to
decode. But it was such a shock, so out
of their realm of expectations, that they didn’t, perhaps couldn’t comprehend
what he was saying.
And so dear Peter, who moments ago had his great confession,
now has a moment of great foolishness.
He takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him.
Perhaps Peter fancied himself the realist to Jesus’ idealist. Perhaps he thought Jesus was a great teacher
and all, but just wasn’t being very practical here. “Jesus,” Peter might have tried to
pedantically explain, “You can’t go talking like that. Look I don’t know what you’re trying to prove
but this sort of thing will scare people.
Can’t you tell a different parable or something – we like the one about
the lost sheep, how about it? This talk
of dying, I mean, it’s so pessimistic.
People like good news, uplifting stuff.
Oh, and how about some practical preaching? People always like to hear what they can do…”
I wonder how long Jesus let Peter prattle on before he had
enough of it. And even though Peter had
“taken Jesus aside”, we might wonder how far aside – and did the other
disciples get the gist of what Peter was trying to do? Did they, too, hope Peter could talk some
sense into Jesus?
Maybe that’s why Jesus answered Peter’s semi-private rebuke
with a very public and stinging rebuke of his own. He turns back to the disciples and says, “Get
behind me Satan! You do not have in mind
the things of God, but the things of man.”
Ouch. When Jesus calls you Satan, you know you’ve gone
wrong. But that’s just how deadly
serious Jesus is about all this. In
fact, there is nothing more important than his mission of suffering and death
and resurrection. Not the favor of the
crowd. Not the appeasement of his
enemies. Not even poor Peter’s feelings. If there’s one thing you have to get straight
about the Christ, it’s that he comes to suffer, die, and rise.
Peter had in mind the things of man. Which are really the things of Satan,
too. Creature comforts as opposed to
suffering. Honor and glory instead of
humility and rejection. Success and
achievement instead of an ignominious death.
The things of man that we are also familiar with.
When we cast our lot in with this sort of thinking, we must
repent. When we think, like Peter did, that we know better than Jesus, we’d
better think again. And if we think we
can follow Jesus without taking up our own cross – then we’ve also got another
thing coming.
But the things of God – the things of Jesus – are
different. Suffering. Sacrifice.
Servanthood. Submission to God’s
will. Shame. Sorrow.
And ultimately, and especially, the cross.
One definition of the word, “Theology” is, “the study of
God” or “of God’s Word.” But another way
of translating “theo-logos” is, “The
matters of God”, or even, “The things of God”.
Peter’s theology was really a messed up anthropology. He had in mind the words of man, not the word
of God. And we deserve a rebuke any time
we do the same.
Luther once contrasted what he called the “Theology of
Glory” with the “Theology of the Cross”.
The theology of glory is what Peter had in mind. The theology of the cross, however, finds God
acting in weakness and suffering and death.
One Lutheran theologian puts the contrast this way:
A theology of glory
expects total success, finding all the answers, winning all the battles, and
living happily ever after. The theology of glory is all about my strength, my
power, and my works. A theologian of glory expects his church to be perfect and
always to grow. If a theologian of glory gets sick, he expects God to
heal him.
And if he experiences
failure and weakness, if his church has problems and if he is not healed, then
he is often utterly confused, questioning the sufficiency of his faith and
sometimes questioning the very existence of God.
But, Luther pointed
out, when God chose to save us, He did not follow the way of glory. He did not
come as a great hero-king, defeating his enemies and establishing a mighty
kingdom on earth. Rather, He came as a baby laid in an animal trough, a man of
sorrows with no place to lay His head. And He saved us by the weakness and
shame of dying on a cross. Those who follow Him will have crosses of their own:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me” (Gene Veith)
So, dear Christians, be like Peter – in confessing Jesus as
the Christ. But don’t be like Peter –
having in mind the things of man. Much
to be preferred are the things of God.
For such a theology shows us a Christ who suffers and dies
to save us. It shows us a cross that is
far more than a pretty decoration for you wall, but an instrument of torturous
death by which God’s own Son saves us from death and hell.
And after the cross comes life. Did you catch that part of it, Peter? Or were you too busy stumbling over the
scandal of the cross? Without his cross,
there is no death, and no death, no resurrection. And no resurrection for Jesus means no
resurrection for you. Without the
resurrection of Christ our faith is in vain.
But Christ has been raised. And
our faith is not in vain at all.
The Christ must suffer and die and rise, or he not the
Christ at all. The Christ must go to the
cross, to suffer, die, and rise, and save – for this is the will of God, and
these are the things of God.
Jesus would not be deterred from that cross, by Peter, by
Satan, or by anything or anyone. The
cross was before him. Satan can get
behind him.
Now, get Satan behind you, too. Take up your cross and follow Jesus and
his. Get your theology right. Have in
mind the things of God. Fix your eyes on Jesus and his cross. For there, and only there, can you find the
Christ, and there, and only there, is your salvation.
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