“THE GREAT CONFESSION AND THE GREAT CONFRONTATION”

Mark 8:27-38

27  Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"

28  And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."

29  He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah."

30  And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

31  Then he 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.

32  He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33  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."

34  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.

35  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

36  For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

37  Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?

38  Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

I don’t think Dale Carnegie would have approved of the way Jesus handled things that day in Caesarea Philippi. Dale Carnegie, of course, was the motivational speaker who wrote the book “How To Make Friends And Influence People.”  Dale Carnegie would have suggested that Jesus sit Peter down and have a heart-to-heart talk with him.  Dale CArnegie would have suggested that Jesus keep things positive by saying something like this, “You know Peter I really value you as a disciple and I do respect your opinion, but you’re not seeing the whole picture here.  So, I hope you’ll be a team player and just trust me on this one.”

It sounds good, but that’s not what Jesus did.  Instead Jesus lowered the boom on Peter.  He looked right at Peter and said very sternly “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Basically Jesus played hardball with Peter that day.  It was similar to what happened to Robert Byrd back in 1958 when he was running for the United States Senate. During the campaign Byrd made many promises as politicians usually do. One of the promises that people didn’t know about was a promise that he made to his 15-year-old daughter Margie. Apparently, during the campaign he told his daughter that she could get a dog for a pet. That promise though was never fulfilled. So, after Byrd was elected Margie sat down as one of his constituents and wrote him a letter. In the letter she reminded him that the promise had not been kept. She then gave him a week to make good on the promise after which she threatened to send her letter to the newspaper.  Later that same day, Margie got her dog.

That’s basically what Jesus did at Caesarea Philippi. Jesus was anything but meek and mild when he confronted Peter.  He lowered the boom on Peter and it makes you wonder why?  Why did Jesus get so angry with Peter?

Maybe it was because Peter touched a nerve in Jesus.  You see Peter didn’t want Jesus to be a suffering servant kind of messiah. He wanted Jesus to be a conquering hero kind of messiah and that’s one of the temptations that Jesus wrestled with when he was in the wilderness. Do you remember what the third temptation was that Jesus wrestled with in the wilderness? That’s the temptation where the devil took Jesus up to a high mountain and told him he could have all the kingdoms of the world if he would just bow down and worship him. Jesus said no to that temptation and now it was back again.  This time Peter was the one who was dangling that temptation in front of Jesus and Jesus didn’t want any part of it.  So, he lowered the boom on Peter.

Peter also lowered the boom on Peter because it was obvious that after following Jesus for three years Peter still didn’t get it.  Peter still didn’t understand what Jesus was all about.  In a way it was similar to the situation that a little boy and his grandfather found themselves in one day.  The grandfather was reading his newspaper when four year old Jason came up to him with a peach in his hand.  After looking at the peach Jason shrugged his shoulders and held it out in front of him.  The grandfather, thinking the peach was being offered to him as a snack, smiled and said, “Thank you Jason.” As soon as he took a bite out of the peach though, Jason’s lower lip started to quiver.  “But grandpa,” he whimpered. “I didn’t want you to eat it.  I just wanted you to get the worm out of it.”

Jesus and Peter weren’t on the same wave length that day in Caesarea Philippi. That probably worried Jesus because he was really counting on Peter to continue his ministry after he was gone.  Not only that, but Jesus was also worried that Peter might lead the other disciples astray. So, for all these reasons and maybe a few that we don’t even know about Jesus lowered the boom on Peter.  “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”  The Great Confession turned into The Great Confrontation and I think there are two very important lessons to keep in mind as you ponder what happened that day in Caesarea Philippi.

The first thing to keep in mind is that love doesn’t mean you always have to be nice.  Sometimes love means you have to do what Jesus did that day in Caesarea Philippi.  Sometimes love means you have to be forceful and fierce.  Sometimes love means you have to tenacious and tough.  Sometimes love means you have to raise your voice and stamp your feet because you know that a friend isn’t facing up to a problem or someone in the family is about to make a big mistake or because you see something that in your heart you know just isn’t right.

That’s what a man did one day when he attended an astronomy lecture. During the lecture the scientist said, “I have swept the universe with my telescope, and I find no God.”  After the lecture was over the scientist asked if there were any questions. At that point the man stood up and said that he was a musician.  He then went on to say, “Your statement, sir, is as unreasonable as it is for me to say that I have taken my violin apart, and after carefully examining each part with my microscope I have found no music.”

Yes, sometimes love means you have to lower the boom the way Jesus did that day at Caesarea Philippi.  The second thing you might want to think about is whether you want Jesus to lower the boom on you? 

Do you want the Jesus who might challenge you to make some changes in your marriage before it’s too late?  Do you want the Jesus who might tell you that the kids you’ve been hanging around with lately at school are going to get you into a lot of trouble if you’re not careful?  Do you want the Jesus who might tell you that you’re drinking too much and that you better stop before it’s too late? Is there a place in your faith for the Jesus who might lower the boom on you?

Or would you rather have a faith that sees things the way a little old lady did one day while she was sitting in church.  Shortly after the sermon started the preacher condemned drinking and drunkenness.  The little old lady raised her hands to the heavens and shouted, “Amen brother!”  Then the preached condemned lust and lascivious living.  Once again the little old lady raised her hands to the heavens and shouted, “Amen brother!”  The little old lady did the same thing when the preacher condemned cigarettes and smoking.  Then the preacher condemned bingo and all other forms of gambling.  At that point the little old lady stood up and shouted, “There you go.  You’ve done stopped preaching and gone to meddling.”

I don’t know about you but I want a Jesus who is going to love me enough to confront me from time to time.  I want a Jesus who is going to love me enough to challenge me from time to time.  I want a Jesus who is going to love me enough to question what I do and what I think from time to time.  If you let him that Jesus will come to you through the stories that you find in the gospels and your times of prayer. Sometimes he’ll come to you in a sermon or the words that someone who really cares speaks to you.

Those words may sting a little at first.  You may feel the same way Peter probably felt that day at Caesarea Philippi when Jesus lowered the boom on him.  In the end though those hard to hear words will bring you to a better place.

You may even end up feeling the same way a little boy did after he got separated from his parents one day while they were at a mall shopping.  A security officer saw the little boy wandering around by himself.  So, he brought the little boy to an office in the mall and then paged the parents.  While the little boy was sitting there one of the workers in the office went and got him an ice cream cone. So, when the parents arrived they found the little boy sitting there happily licking his ice cream cone.  The parents immediately rushed over and gave the little boy a hug at which point the little boy burst into tears.  Upon seeing that, the security guard shook his head and said, “I guess he didn’t know he was lost until he was found.”

It doesn’t matter who you are.  There are times in your life when you’re going to be lost.  There are times in your life when you’re going to be lost and you don’t even know it.  When that happens do you want a Jesus who showers you with sympathy and soothing words or do you want a Jesus who will confront and challenge and question you until you find yourself again?  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

September 17, 2006