Text: Mark 8:27-9:1
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| Get Thee Behind Me, Satan! (Tissot) |
Introduction – the Allure of Power
When we think of power and the powerful, what are the things
that come to mind? Billionaires and their influence over the economy? Leaders
of nations? The strength of military might? Autocrats and dictators who hold
life and death in their hands? Politicians who hold purse strings? Corporate
CEOs? Sports figures, entertainers, etc. that command huge followings and
associated paydays? Pastors with mega and giga churches? Leaders of influential
religious organizations? Love them or hate them, we cannot deny that these
things are a large presence in our world and our lives.
The allure of power is strong. Whether in 1st
century Palestine, or in 21st century America, the temptation to
seize upon power or at least to be aligned with the powerful is nearly
impossible to escape. Power – through position, wealth and both – is offered
and withheld to influence and control outcomes beneficial to the powerful. The
less powerful cling to the coattails of those with more power to attempt to
ride up the ladder and share the crumbs that fall.
Are any of us completely immune to the attractions of power
and what it offers? In the Christian calendar, the seasons of both Advent and
Lent are times when the subject matter should lead us away from the pursuit of
power. Or at least from the popular, temporal concepts of power.
Even in a common Christian phrase, paraphrased “Jesus will
return in glory and power”, the common imaginations of power make its way. When
we hear that, the imagination runs to a conquering general or king, slaying his
enemies as he leads his victorious army.
That Jesus will return in glory and power could imply that during
his time on earth as a human, Jesus didn’t have power…, or at least the kind of
power that we think ultimately matters.
How we define power and how we view the power wielded by
Jesus matters to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and follow him. To get
this wrong is to be on the receiving end of Jesus’ rebuke, “Get behind me,
Satan”.
Recap – Gospel Reading
What did you hear when you heard today’s gospel reading? Jesus
asked his disciples who others said he was, and then after receiving responses,
asked the disciples who they thought he was. Peter responded (speaking for all
of them) that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. And then
Jesus tells them to not say this to anyone. Immediately afterwards Jesus begins
speaking plainly that the Christ must be rejected by those in power and
authority, suffer, be killed, and then rise again.
It is at this point that Peter tries to correct Jesus and
where Jesus rebukes Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking
God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”
Jesus then gathers the crowd together and speaks about what
it means to follow him. It involves denying themselves, taking up the cross,
and the following Jesus. These are common phrases that we have heard and so
maybe do not resonate very strongly with us. But for those who were hearing it
for the first time, it meant identifying with the cruelest, most excruciating,
and most humiliating form of torture and execution. Jesus further tells the
crowd that those who follow him must be willing to lose their lives, and I
don’t think he meant it metaphorically. I believe Jesus meant this quite
literally.
Context One – Narrative Setting
There are a couple of contexts that we need to consider. The
first is the context of the setting in which this narrative takes place. Jesus
and his disciples were in the region of Caesarea Phillipi. We probably gloss
over this as just an interesting mention of geography. But this is a key detail
vital to interpreting this narrative, a narrative that is a turning point in
Mark’s gospel account.
Up to this point, Jesus had been performing miracles and winning
arguments with the learned scholars and authorities. He was amazing the people.
He was defeating demons and demonstrating victory over religious and political
powers. Jesus’ power and influence was rising in the popular minds.
It is then that Mark’s account mentions Caesarea Phillipi.
David Jacobsen, in his commentary on Mark writes about the significance of the
setting:
We begin by noting the setting in
8:27-30… First, we note that the location of the action is Caesarea Phillipi.
The name indicates the city was named after Caesar. However, since another
Caesarea nearby shared that name, it is distinguished with the second name
Phillipi, referring to Phillip, one of Herod’s nearby ruling sons. Digging
deeper, one notices that this region has a symbolic significance for our
revelatory interlude at the mountain of transfiguration. The region, as Adela
Yarebro Collins points out, was connected not only with Mount Hermon[1],
but it was also an important location associated first with ruler cults
stretching back to the Ptolemies and as recent as a new Herodian temple “in
honor of Augustus.” In short, this revelatory discussion is happening in a
region of imperial religious significance. It is no mere bit of local color or backdrop
but is central to understanding the give and take that results in Peter’s
confession. Second, the narrator goes out of his way to describe Jesus’
initiatory question in the dialogue as happening “on the way” in v. 28. “On the
way is” is discipleship language. We are thus engaging the back and forth of
question and response, rebuke and rebuke, in the material that follows not as
an intellectual exercise, nor even as one about Christological speculation, but
as one connected deeply to discipleship and the nature of the gospel itself.
Considering that information, what I see is the Markan
gospel informing his readers that yes, Jesus has been demonstrating his power,
and one might be tempted to seize upon it to gain religious, political, and
military benefits. But that is not the power of Jesus.
A few weeks ago I noted in the sermon that the Markan
account of the wilderness test does not include details nor the “Get behind me,
Satan” words that are recorded in Matthew, or the “Don’t test the Lord” found
in Luke. But we find “Get behind me, Satan” in Mark at this midpoint of his
gospel. A plausible interpretation is that this is the point in Mark’s gospel
where Jesus is strongly tested to take the easier path, the path of using his
miraculous powers and ability to outwit the learned minds to lead the nation,
build an empire, and rule the world.
It is at this point where Christians, Christian
organizations and churches throughout history have been tempted and often
failed. The offer of power often seems innocuous and even beneficial. Who wouldn’t
think that a little bit of gaining influence from the power-that-be wouldn’t be
beneficial to the proclamation and spread of the gospel? But from gaining a
little bit of help from the governing powers, it soon leads to the thought that
if a little power is good, more power would be better. Wouldn’t a Christian
nation that follows Christian principles be a great idea? And from there the
national agenda becomes “what God wants.” (And by the way, who gets to define
what is “Christian” and what isn’t?)
If Jesus were to come amongst us today, I suspect there will
be a quite a lot of, “Get behind me, Satan,” coming from his mouth.
Context Two – Literary Setting
The second context to consider in reading this text is that
setting in which the gospel account was weaved and edited together and the
audience to whom it was written. The account was probably written not too long
after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Although there are no records of
systematic persecution of Christians during the first century, there were
sporadic, regional persecutions. The Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE was blamed on
Christians.
Christians were still a small sect that was ostensibly
Jewish, but the separation had begun. Perhaps some of the Jewish communities
and synagogues had already begun to reject the followers of Jesus and deny the
religious protections that they had been under as Jews.
In times of suffering, distress, and uncertainty,
apocalyptic literature flourishes. We see this in our own history. During
uncertain times, arts and entertainment tend to get darker as they utilize the
apocalyptic genre to try to explain what happened, what is going on, and to
offer a dark hope for the future.
It was no different in ancient times. Daniel is an
apocalyptic book written sometime during the second century BCE, where the Jews
attempt to explain what has happened with the rise of Antiochus IV Epiphanes of
the Seleucid Empire and his desecration of the Temple.
The book of Revelation is a Christian apocalyptic literature
that attempts to explain what has happened from the destruction of the Temple
and the seemingly unstoppable power of the Roman Empire against God.
Here are a few features that are common through apocalyptic
literature. The first is that they tend to be morally dualistic. A Yale lecture
on apocalyptic literature states, “They tend to divide humankind into two
mutually exclusive groups; the righteous which is always a tiny minority, and
the wicked, which is always the vast majority. There’s going to be some final
public judgment and the righteous will be saved and the wicked will be
destroyed.”
Another feature is that they tend to predict catastrophes,
suffering, and persecution. “These are signs of the coming of the end, that
final point in the march of history that’s being laid out. You have motifs from
ancient myths very often used to describe these catastrophes.”
A third feature is that they offer a “behind the scenes”
look at what is going on in the supernatural realm, the divine realm, hidden to
normal vision.
The last feature I will note here is that,
… Apocalyptic literature can be
described as a literature of hope and despair. It’s a literature of despair or
pessimism because its basic premise is that this world holds out no promise for
the righteous. It’s a literature of hope or optimism because it affirms that
God will intervene. He will intervene in human history, he’ll set everything
right, he’ll interrupt the natural order, he’s going to destroy this broken
world as we know it, and he’ll do so in order to rescue the righteous and
humiliate the wicked, and if you’ve already died don’t worry there will be a
resurrection, it will all be made right.
Hearing an Apocalypse
Although the gospel of Mark is not strictly in the apocalyptic
genre, scholars identify apocalyptic themes running through all of it,
including the passage we read as our text today. The stark dualism between
following Jesus and not following him is presented in the image of carrying a
cross. Suffering and death are offered as the norm for following Jesus. In
Jesus’ rebuke to Peter, we get the idea that something else is going on “behind
the scenes” that is diametrically opposed to what is seen in the world. And
finally, Jesus predicts the rescue of his followers who remain faithful to him when
he returns.
Writing to a powerless, ostracized, and possibly persecuted
people, I see Mark telling his audience to resist the temptation to pursue
gaining worldly power to try to improve their conditions.
Jesus said, “36 Why would people gain the whole
world but lose their lives? 37 What will people give in exchange for
their lives? 38 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this
unfaithful and sinful generation, the Human One will be ashamed of that person
when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:36-38 CEB) In
my experience, this statement has often been applied to evangelism and
witnessing. But looking at the overall context of this passage, I think a more
appropriate application is found in rejecting the temptation to seek to harness
powers of this world, even if it might seem to be beneficial in spreading the
gospel or improving the general conditions of Christian existence in this world.
That said, I don’t think there is a problem with working with modern means of
governance to improve the lots of all people. But I do think that privileging
Christians over others would still prompt a “Get behind me, Satan,” from Jesus.
The final sentence of today’s reading where Jesus says, “I
assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see God’s kingdom
arrive in power,” (Mark 9:1 CEB) has been interpreted many ways. A common one
is that it refers to some of his disciples who experience the Transfiguration,
the narrative which immediately follows. But many scholars accept this as an
unfulfilled prediction, that perhaps Jesus got it wrong (or Mark’s editing got
it wrong), or that it remains for when Jesus returns.
Conclusion – Redefining “Power”
And it is here that we see the word “power” identified with
God and God’s kingdom. In isolation it is easy to interpret this as the kind of
strength and might associated with rulers and armies of this world. But Jesus’
power was in his suffering, in his humiliation, in his death, and in his love
for the world. The power of Jesus is to use his story to persuade listeners to
follow and imitate him. History is witness to the reality that Jesus’
persuasive power is stronger than the might of armies. The persuasive power of
suffering and sacrificing love changed civilization.
During this season of Lent, let us remember the power of
Christ’s love for the world, that we would not just be Christians, but disciples
and followers of Jesus, carrying the cross and enduring suffering, humiliation,
and even loss so that we too, can become agents of divine persuasive love in
the world.[2]
References
Bartlett, D. L., & Taylor, B. B. (2008). Feasting
on the Word: Year B, Volume 2 (Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary).
Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
Jacobsen, D. S. (2014). Fortress Biblical
Preaching Commentaries: Mark. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Jarvis, C. A., & Johnson, E. E. (2014). Feasting
on the Gospels: Mark (A Feasting on the Word Commentary). Louisville, KY:
Westminster John Knox Press.
McLaren, B. (2024, February 22). Life As a
Spiritual Journey: Following Jesus is A Journey. Retrieved from Center
for Action and Contemplation:
https://cac.org/daily-meditations/following-jesus-is-a-journey/
Whitaker, R. J. (2023). Revelation for Normal
People: A Guide to the Strangest and Most Dangerous Book in the Bible.
Harleysville, PA: The Bible for Normal People.
Yale University. (n.d.). Lecture 23 - Visions of
the End: Daniel and Apocalpytic Literature. (Open Yale Courses) Retrieved
February 21, 2024, from RLST 145: Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew
Bible): https://oyc.yale.edu/religious-studies/rlst-145/lecture-23
[1]
Highest peak in ancient Israel, considered a holy mountain by many peoples,
and location of many Roman shrines on its slopes.
[2]
“The word Christian is more familiar to us today than the
word disciple. These days, Christian often
seems to apply more to the kinds of people who would push Jesus off a cliff
than it does to his true followers. Perhaps the time has come to rediscover
the power and challenge of that earlier, more primary word disciple [which]
occurs over 250 times in the New Testament, in contrast to the word Christian, which
occurs only three times. Maybe those statistics are trying to tell us
something.”
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