The disciples were once asked by Lord Jesus this intriguing question (Mk 8:29a). He preceded this with His focus on the crowd, “Who do people say that “I Am”? (Mk 8:27b). After so much revelation of who He was from the previous chapters, our Lord intends to expose their perception of His identity and help them see and hear who He really was.
Up to this point, Mark’s intent was to show how people and His own disciples perceive Him to be. Beginning with chapter 1:1-15 Mark wrote,
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” and starts unfolding how this good news has been told from …
- vv. 2-3, the Glorious and Bold Proclamations of the Past (quoting Isa. 40:3 and Mal. 3:1);
- vv. 4-8, the Herald’s (John the Baptist) Bold and Glorious Proclamations of the Present
- vv. 9-11, God’s Glorious and Thundering Proclamation from Heaven
- vv. 12-15, the Son of God’s Glorious and Victorious Proclamation on Earth
How can Peter and the other disciples missed this? Yes, they acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ (v. 29), but Peter rebuked Lord Jesus (v. 32) after plainly saying that He (the Son of Man) would “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” (v. 31). Clearly, the disciples do not agree with what Lord said the reason for His coming, but why?
What do you think?