Mark’s Gospel, Ch. 8: Jesus + Wrong Interest = Incorrect Jesus?

Here’s a popular passage that many Christians should be familiar with (Mark 8:27-29):

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”  “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”  Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” ^[1]

Peter’s confession here is a major declaration in the lens of orthodox Christian doctrine and church history.  This is the second time in Mark’s Gospel (the first being at the beginning of the Gospel) where Jesus is indicated to be the Messiah.  This is also one high point in Mark’s Gospel in terms of narrative and character formation (for both Jesus and the disciples).  Peter, speaking for the disciples, finally get who Jesus is (despite having trouble understanding his parables).  Jesus is blatantly declared to be the Messiah by characters within the story, not just the narrator.  This sets the tone for the rest of the Gospel - Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem and what it means to follow the Messiah.

But Wait!  There’s More…
However, it would be easy, in popular fashion, to isolate this passage from what follows (Mark 8:30-33):

Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.  He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the interest of God, but merely human interests.” [2]

Why does Jesus tell them not to tell anyone (isn’t that counter-intuitive of the idea of the Great Commission)?

Most Bibles have a heading that splits Mark 8:27-30 and 8:30-33 (example).  This is rather unfortunate because it breaks up this episode into two thoughts (and thus, points) rather than one flowing line of narrative.  The lingering question of “why did Jesus warn them not to tell anyone?” is, I think, answered by the next paragraph.  It’s because the disciples still didn’t fully know who the Messiah truly was.  There were expectations of the Messiah that Jesus didn’t share.

Expectations
In the first century, the Messiah was expected to reign as king, with God overthrowing the Roman rule to set up the Kingdom. [3]  For Peter to call Jesus the “Messiah”, he was unloading his cultural and religious ideas of what the Messiah was to do - the expected physical restoration of Israel.  We can see from the exchange between Jesus and Peter, despite Peter’s “correct” confession, Peter had some different interests in mind as far as what Jesus’ Messiah-ship should look like.

Jesus tells the disciples that He must suffer and be killed.  Obviously, this does not sit well with Peter, who just declared this same person to be the Messiah, the hope for Israel.  The theme of the suffering of the Messiah was something foreign to the Messianic expectations. [4] Peter does not, understandably, see how this fits into the picture of the Messianic Kingdom.

Because Christians read the Bible from a post-New Testament perspective, there is a common practice of reading Jesus into passages that Jews in and around the 1st century would not have been normally associated with the Messiah.  In this case, Mark’s Gospel begins with a citation from Malachi/Isaiah (Mark 1:2-3 [Mal. 3:1, Isaiah 40:3]), with an emphasis on Isaiah.  By doing so, Mark harkens readers back to the themes throughout Isaiah.  NT Wright has suggested that Isaiah 40-55, which includes the “Suffering Servant”, “was thematic for Jesus’ ministry and Kingdom announcement”. [5]

I would like to draw this information to say that the reason (I am not suggesting it’s the primary or only reason) that Jesus told the disciples to not tell others that He was the Messiah was because Jesus had to deconstruct their expectations and construct the real picture of the Messiah and the Kingdom.  If Peter were to go out to his Jewish fellows and told them that Jesus was the Messiah - the Messiah that Peter and his culture expects - then it may have brought up a violent, political revolt against Rome.  Jesus told Peter that suffering and death was part of victory, not defeat, for the establishment of the Kingdom.

Drawing Parallels
In our modern culture, there are certain expectations/loaded meanings of when we say “Jesus”.  Some - or many - of us, because of our upbringing, have certain assumptions that are unbiblical.  Some - or many - of us, need to have our views deconstructed on who “Jesus” actually is, what He said and how we need to live in light of that.  If not, we may start doing unbiblical things, such as trying to create political revolutions in “Jesus” name, but with actions that do not reflect “Jesus” at all.  Sometimes - or much of the time - our interests aren’t the same as Jesus’.

When we sit at the feet and listen to the words of King Jesus is when we actually realize what the Kingdom truly looks like.
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_{[1] Parallels found in Matt 16, Luke 9 and arguably John 6
[2] “interest(s)” is placed where “concern(s)” is in other translations.  This translation of this word is borrowed from the NASB and NET translation.
[3] Craig S Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary New Testament, pg.826.  Glossary note on “Messiah”.
[4] Ibid., pg. 157. Note on 8:32.
[5] NT Wright, “The Servant and Jesus”, Conclusion.  (Available at http://ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Servant_Jesus.htm)}