29And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. 31And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
It comes to my mind that the disciples, in all of their travels and time spent with the Master, were sometimes blinded by the miraculous works He performed. The Pharisees sought Him out for signs. The Disciples witnessed many miracles and signs, yet when they were face-to-face with their own need (Verse 14), they were perplexed. They sought Him for a sign. There in He warned them to not become like the Pharisees.
All of this time spent with Him, and yet they never saw his true purpose. However, in verse 29, Peter saw through the fog and it registered who Jesus really was. It was then that He began to teach them of His true purpose (verse 31).
I know I am guilty of some times falling into the trap of the leaven of the Pharisees. I beg God, plead with Him, ask for a sign; a miracle. I am sure that it must sometime seem to Him that I only serve Him for the loaves and fishes. I think it might be easier for those of us who are rich in this blessed heritage to fall into that trap. We hear preaching from our infancy about the power and might of the Lord God Almighty. We are taught that He can do anything. Therefore, we look to Him for the miraculous. And there is nothing wrong with that, as long as it does not become our only relationship with the Maker. It seems to me that the only time the Pharisees communicated with Jesus was when they were trying to trip Him up; they always wanted Him to prove Himself.
Are we like that? Or do we, like Peter, see through our needs and glimpse Jesus the Christ. You see, Jesus was not here to work miracles. They were His PR, if you will. The miracles, as wonderful and life changing as they were for the direct recipients, were nothing more than demonstrations of His might and power. They were not emblematic of His true purpose.
Jesus only began to teach the disciples His true purpose when they saw Him for who He is. 31And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Jesus came not to make our lives more comfortable by intervening in our troubles. Rather, He came to give us life and life more abundantly. He came to die a humiliating, gruesome death so that you and I might have eternal life.
Let us, as REAL men, not seek after Him or desire relationship with Him for the ancillary benefits that seem to impress our humanity. Rather, let us seek the lover of our souls; let us pursue the one who lived a sinless life to die a debasing death so that we may be free. Let us seek after Jesus the Christ not Jesus the Miracle Worker.
Keith G. Mathews
Wednesday
Mark 8
