What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "Who do men say that I am?" So they answered, "John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ." Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.

And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." And He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power."

- Mark 8:27-9:1

In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught His disciples "Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." He was referring to the fact that some Pharisees had disputed with Him and asked Him for a sign from heaven, testing Him. But the disciples failed to understand Jesus' meaning - and they disputed among themselves that, having mentioned "leaven," Jesus must be upset that they didn't bring bread with them. He takes them to task for their inability to comprehend, their "hardness of heart," because they fail to remember the feeding miracles in which He fed five thousand men in the wilderness, and later on four thousand people. Later, they came to Bethsaida, where Jesus healed a blind man - who gradually came to see. Jesus charged the man and his friends to tell no one in the town.

Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "Who do men say that I am?" Caesarea Philippi is a town north of the Sea of Galilee. It is a major city in a Gentile area, and was built by Herod's son Philip. Jesus chooses this Gentile region in which to bring up this powerful question, in the words of my study bible, "apparently wishing to avoid popular repercussions among Jews."

So they answered, "John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ." Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him. Many people spoke of the return of Elijah (which Jesus will say was John the Baptist, returned in the spirit of Elijah) which was to foreshadow the coming of the Messiah. Herod Antipas, we know, feared that Jesus was John the Baptist returned. But finally Jesus challenges the disciples, and Peter speaks for all of them with his confession of faith. "The Christ" is "the anointed one." My study bible says, "The Hebrew equivalent of Christ is 'Messiah,' meaning, 'the Anointed One.' Because this title was fraught with popular nationalistic misunderstandings, Jesus uses it only rarely, but accepts it when questioned at His trial before the Sanhedrin. The understanding of Christ's identity cannot be gained through human reason; nor do miracles divulge it. It comes only by revelation from the Father in heaven." At long last, in Mark's Gospel, the messianic secret of Jesus is understood and revealed to the disciples. But Jesus warns them never to speak of it to anyone.

And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. How poignant it is that at the point of revelation, Jesus must begin to teach His disciples what is going to happen, and how He is going to suffer. What a shock this must have been for them. This is in complete contrast to the expectations of Messiah in popular nationalistic understanding, and a powerful reason why they must keep His true identity a secret. My study bible says, "Son of Man is a veiled Old Testament messianic title (Dan. 7:13) which Jesus uses frequently, as it is more suitable than 'the Christ' for this stage in Jesus' ministry. Jesus must suffer: This is the inscrutable divine will, and the very heart of His redemptive work. Suffering marks Jesus' redefinition of messiahship (see Is. 53)."

Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." My study bible says that "Peter is shocked by this unprecedented notion. But Jesus is preparing His disciples -- and Christians today -- for adversity." It adds, "Peter unknowingly serves the intent of Satan other than the plan of God in attempting to lead Jesus away from the path of suffering." Jesus is powerfully reorienting them - and us - to the notions of Messiah and also the calling of those who would follow. What is spiritual life? What does it mean to serve God? to serve the Christ? These powerful questions now take on deeper meanings and solemn dimensions not heretofore pondered for popular understanding of what it is to follow and to serve the Most High. For the early Christians, there would be no doubt of what it meant to follow Christ.

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. These are the words of self-sacrifice, the opposite of what we call "selfishness." But they are words that teach us to find ourselves, while we lose a life constructed only to serve the things of the world and not the plan of God. My study bible says "Discipleship is costly: it requires giving up all claim to everything the world holds dear." To take up one's cross is a symbol of suffering and self-denial, and to find the things that are of God, to be tested by the world as we choose to worship something other than "worldly values" oriented toward a limited selfishness as a goal in life.

"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." And He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power." My study bible points out that "Soul (Gr. psyche), also translated 'life,' can refer to our spiritual nature or the whole human being. Nothing is more valuable to us than our souls." From the words of suffering, and even crucifixion of the self, we receive something more powerful: the soul, and its connection to a heavenly glory, and power. Jesus promises a fullness that is a part of life in this kingdom. "The kingdom of God present with power," my study bible says, "is connected to the previous words about the Son of man coming in glory." In tomorrow's reading, we will see a foretaste of this glory.

So what does it mean to take up a cross, and to suffer for this kingdom? To be taught on the one hand that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, and on the other that they must tell nobody -- that in fact He is to suffer at the hands of the leadership -- how is this even possible, given the notions of Messiah as a nationalist redeemer? We have to think very carefully about how Jesus is re-forming and re-shaping notions of what it is to be a spiritual and religious leader, and of what the kingdom is, exactly. It is not to be merged seamlessly and perfectly into the popular consciousness of nationalist identity, in which all problems are swept away and liberation means the fulfillment of all worldly desires for a comfortable life. Rather, they are going to be working for a different kingdom to come into the world, and that kingdom is governed by a God who can declare that "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” and “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8,9). Jesus challenges us to become like Him; as His disciples we will serve the same purpose and cause. We are brothers and sisters, and like Him, we take on the responsibilities He takes, for building a kingdom devoted to something that transcends a worldly perspective, and that serves a heavenly one. Jesus' charge is the cost of discipleship in a world that will fight this kingdom at every turn, throwing temptation and obstacle onto our paths, and teaching us all the ways of that "leaven" He spoke of in yesterday's reading. To take up this cross is to serve something that the world will not necessarily love, but it is also a kingdom that gives us true self, our souls, and the fullness of life in its power to feed our true nature in Christ, in that place of "life in abundance." Take on that cross, and see where it leads. In prayer, we meet the One whose thoughts are not our thoughts, and we build the kingdom as we are led forward into deeper understanding of where God wants us to go.