For many Christians, faith begins and ends with a statement of belief in Jesus. They’ll repeat some words and feel that all is right. Mark writes that Peter says that Jesus is the Messiah (Christ coming from the Greek word that translates Messiah from Hebrew). But Mark follows that confession with a story of Jesus teaching about the true nature of what being the Messiah means, that is, suffering and dying not kingship and political victory. Peter then rebukes Jesus.
That is strange. Why would Mark first write that Peter gets it right, then that he gets it wrong. In fact, Jesus strongly responds to Peter’s rebuke of the vision of Messiah by saying, “Get behind me, Satan.” Wow, that’s blunt. Jesus continues his teaching by saying that Peter is thinking about the world of humans, not the world of God.
In the world of God, we focus on the Gospel. (Remember what that is–living in intimate relationship with God and serving others.) In so doing, we will wind up sacrificing our life–our will, desires and sometimes our physical life. But we will gain spiritual life–things such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Back to Peter. Just like I wrote last week, Jesus is good at breaking your flow of thought in order to force you to go deeper. It takes more than a confession of belief. It takes your life. It’s not about politics or forcing everyone to be good. It’s about God. And doing what God wants. And in so doing you find the reward. God knows what’s best.
Faith Venture 
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