By The Rev. Craig A. Phillips, Ph.D.
The Confession of Peter [1] is a pivotal moment in the Gospel of Mark. Up until this point, Jesus’ ministry of preaching and healing had taken off like crazy. His disciples were convinced that Jesus was on the brink of success. But the central question in the Gospel of Mark is: who is Jesus? Mark, the gospel writer, tells the story of Jesus in a way that invites the reader to decide for themselves who Jesus really is. The Confession of Peter reveals one aspect of Jesus’ identity as Messiah, but there’s still more to learn about him.
Jesus asked his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. (Mark 8:29-30).
Jesus immediately puts a damper on the disciples’ excitement concerning the messianic identity of Jesus. It seems that they have not truly understood the nature of Jesus’ mission.
Then [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. … And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:31-34).
Peter couldn’t believe what Jesus had said. The Messiah wasn’t supposed to die! He was supposed to defeat all enemies and bring God’s kingdom to earth. But he wasn’t supposed to die. That was unacceptable to Peter. So, Peter took Jesus aside and told him off—he rejected Jesus’ words forcefully. Jesus, in turn, went so far as to call Peter, “Satan,” an adversary of God.
Peter’s actions might seem puzzling, but let’s try to understand his perspective. Peter genuinely wanted Jesus to succeed. The predicted suffering and death of Jesus clashed with Peter’s vision of success and prosperity. The irony is that Jesus’ death on the cross is the source of life, abundant life that never ends.
In the Confession of Peter, the identity of Jesus is finally acknowledged and spoken aloud. Once this is established, the next question is what it means to follow him and become his disciple. This story highlights one of the great paradoxes of the Christian faith: we discover who we are by discovering who Jesus is. In the verses that follow Peter’s rebuke of Jesus and Jesus’ subsequent rebuke of Peter, we learn that the path to self-fulfillment in life is through self-denial.
Jesus turned to the crowds and invited everyone, not just his disciples, to follow him. At the same time, he set the conditions for discipleship. The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible reading uses inclusive language, but it’s important to recognize that Jesus is speaking directly to each individual person. In the original Greek text of the gospel of Mark, Jesus’ words are in the singular with the male pronoun, even though we know from the gospels that Jesus had female disciples. The English Standard Version of the Bible translates the passage literally, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
We discover who we are by discovering who Jesus is, and we discover that the way to self-fulfillment in life is through self-denial. These paradoxes lie at the heart of the gospel.
I believe that St. Paul truly grasped this concept. Listen to the words he wrote to the Galatian church:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:19b-Gal. 2:20).
John Calvin also knew that self-denial is the key to living like a Christian.
We are not our own; therefore neither our reason nor our will should predominate in our deliberations and actions.
We are not our own; therefore let us not propose it as our end, to seek what may be expedient for us according to the flesh.
We are not our own; therefore let us, as far as possible, forget ourselves and all things that are ours.
On the contrary, we are God’s; to him, therefore, let us live and die.
We are God’s; therefore let his wisdom and will preside in all our actions.
We are God’s; towards him, therefore, as our only legitimate end, let every part of our lives be directed (Institutes III, 7).
Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it more bluntly: “When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die” (Part 1, Chapter 2).
St. Paul, John Calvin, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer all understood that once we follow Jesus, we’re not our own. We become Christ’s. The way to live a true life is to die to ourselves so that Christ can live in us.
The Gospel of Mark is telling us that if Jesus was willing to die for us, then we who follow him should be willing to die for him as well. In the early Church, many Christians did suffer and die just for following Jesus. Most of us do not worry about this happening to us today. There were, however, Christians in the not-too-distant past who were killed in Syria and Iraq because they followed Jesus These martyrs might not have fully imagined that their lives would end on account of their faith when they decided to follow Jesus. Their lives show us the cost of following Jesus.
For those who’ve settled into a comfortable life of piety, these words from Jesus are a wake-up call. He calls us to follow him. To do that, we first must let go of everything that holds us back from truly following him and taking the challenging path he’s laid out for us. Following Jesus might mean giving up our ego and self-centeredness, and it might mean learning to put more love and care for those Jesus calls us to serve—the little, the last, the lost, and the least—than we do for ourselves.
Listen again to these words from Jesus, paraphrased here to understand both the inclusive nature of his call and the personal call it has for each of us:
If anyone wants to follow me, they must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
We discover who we are by discovering who Jesus is, and we discover that the way to self-fulfillment in life is through self-denial. These paradoxes lie at the heart of the gospel.
1 The Confession of Peter refers to a moment in the New Testament when the apostle Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah (or the Christ). The confession is recorded in three of the four Gospels, Matthew 16:13–20, Mark 8:27–30, and Luke 9:18–21. It is considered a pivotal moment in the Gospels and in Christian theology.
The Rev. Craig A. Phillips, Ph.D. is a retired Episcopal priest and Professor of Religion. He currently teaches as an adjunct Lecturer at St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH. His blog may be found at https://craigphillips.co. His free Substack page, “Everyday Life: Flourishing in These Times,” may be found at https://craigphillips.substack.com.