Isaiah 50:5-9, James 2:14-18, Mark 8:27-35
If we do not discover our real identity, we may miss our true mission on earth. When people cannot place our identity, they may end up representing us wrongly. People often fanaticize with our title but lack the knowledge of what is proper to our status. That is why they oftentimes make some depends on us which leave us dumbfounded or disappointed. Their expectations are but products of how they view us.
In the gospel according to Mark, Jesus asked his disciples, “who do people say I am?’ And they told him. ‘John the Baptist,’ they said, ‘others Elijah; others again, one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he asked, ‘who do you say I am?’ Peter spoke up and said to him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.”
Peter recognized that Jesus was the Christ, but his understanding of the Messiah was faulty. Like many Jews of his time, Peter expected the Messiah to be a powerful warrior who would deliver Israel through a violent revolution. However, when Jesus instructed the disciples not to reveal his identity, he understood the potential consequences of such a declaration, it could interfere with his mission, which included his passion, suffering, and death.
Although Peter acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the idea of a suffering Savior was unimaginable to him. This is why he objected when Jesus foretold that “the Son of Man must suffer greatly, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and rise again after three days.” And the Lord said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.”
The life of Jesus shows us that behind every smile there lies some level of unsung struggles. Nothing good comes so easy. No Christianity without a measure of pain and sacrifices.
More so, we cannot interpret God’s way carnally. Spiritual principles are not objects of empirical studies. It takes great discernment to understand the operations of God in time.
We pray for more understanding of God’s will as we go through our daily endeavours. Amen.
Leave a comment