Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men

 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him.  So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.  And when he had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.  And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."  Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up.  And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.  Then He sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone 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?"  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." 

- Mark 8:22-33

Yesterday we read that the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Jesus, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."  And he left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  And they said, "Seven."  So he said to them, "How is it that you do not understand?"

 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him.  So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.  And when he had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.  And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."  Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up.  And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.  Then He sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town."   Jesus encounters a kind of hard-heartedness in the town of Bethsaida; the people were unbelieving (Matthew 11:21).  So here, Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.  He needs to work where there is faith.  My study bible says that He leads the man out of the town to heal him, so that the people would not scoff at the miracle and thus bring down upon themselves greater condemnation.   It notes also that in the details given we learn this man was healed in stages; it shows that he had a small amount of faith, as healing occurs according to one's faith (6:5-6), and so this is possibly another reason why he was taken outside of the town to be healed.   It is not the first example of people being set apart by Christ, away from scoffers, so that faith is shored up and a healing can take place (see, for example, this passage).  But the formerly blind man's little faith was enough, and it increased with the touch of Christ.  My study bible adds that Christ's command not to return to the town symbolizes that we must not return to our sins after we've been forgiven.  Perhaps also, it remains important for this healed man to stay apart from those who would challenge his faith.

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.  Jesus first draws out from the disciples all the answers of the crowds to His identity.  Some say John the Baptist returned, some say Elijah, some say one of the prophets.  But they are the ones closest to Him.  After He draws out all of these ideas of the people, He asks them what they think.  My study bible says that "Who do you say that I am?" is the greatest question that any person can ever face, because it is the statement that defines Christianity.  Moreover, I would add, the answer to this question defines our relationship to God.  Peter's correct answer, my study bible adds, prevents the Christian faith from being seen as simply another philosophical system or path of spirituality, because it names Jesus as the Christ.  In Matthew's version, Peter adds that He is the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).   Such an understanding could not come from reason, but by divine revelation through faith (1 Corinthians 12:3).  Christ means "Anointed One," equivalent to the Hebrew title "Messiah."   Jesus teaches by first drawing out the wrong answers, and then embracing the correct one.  We note once again, also, His command for secrecy at this time.

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."  My study bible points out that directly after Peter's confession, Jesus begins to reveal the true nature of His messiahship.  The true nature of His mission as Messiah is the mystery of His Passion.  Popular expectation held that the Messiah would reign forever.  The notion that the Messiah would reign forever meant that the concept of a suffering Messiah who would die -- especially through crucifixion -- was not simply perplexing to Peter but would remain scandalous to the Jews even after the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 1:23).   It adds that Peter unwittingly speaks for Satan, as the devil did not want Christ to fulfill His mission, and to save mankind through suffering and death.

Christ suffers.  Imagine it!  How can the Christ suffer?  How can the Messiah, who is to reign forever and ever, suffer and even die, as a human being?  That He would be crucified as one of the lowest among criminals adds more greatly to such a scandal.   It is nowhere more true that God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).   And it seems to me to be as true as ever that this remains scandal and stumbling block, but perhaps in different ways than to the contemporaries of Jesus.  One reason this is so is because we live in an age where we glorify scientific reasoning and truth, but fail, in popular imagination at least (and even in those professionals who should very well know better) to understand that science itself must always point to mystery, to the things we don't already know and which will determine truth as different from what it is we know now.  Christ's crucifixion becomes a scandal in the sense that it seems "nonsensical" to those without faith, and difficult for all of us who do have faith.  It remains a scandal in the sense that those even who call themselves Christians differ widely as to the reasons why Christ would suffer, although the experience of our Christianity may unify us in the understanding that a suffering Messiah is indeed a Savior for all of us, not merely for the victors of the world.  A suffering Messiah is one who has experienced the harshest evils of the world, even death.  The ancient Easter hymn of the Orthodox declares that Christ trampled down death through death.  His Resurrection included this complete experience of what it is to be human, and therefore brought transcendence to all that we experience, drawing us with Him.  Our experience of our human lives will also contain many crucifixions for which we, too, need Resurrection -- and with Him, through faith.  Our spiritual lives are not simply something we do on Sunday or once in a while when we think we need to pray, but faith remains and grows as part of a daily struggle living in this world.  As Saint Paul writes in Galatians 2:20:  "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."  Modern "advances" in technology and all kinds of other material goods may make it seem as if we are simply to progress into a life where we don't struggle, whose goal is material accumulation and ease.   But human beings need more than that, and we are created for more than that.  We need something good to live for, and by which to live our lives.  We need purpose, and meaning, and truth.  Above all, we need a love that transcends luck, human frailty, and our dependency upon circumstances and those who fail us.  And for all of this we are also created.   When we neglect that part of us that knows faith, we are unwell, unhealed, and not whole.  The struggle of the Cross is the struggle for truth, and goodness, and beauty.  It is the sense in which our Creator comes to us in a love that surpasses all things and remains when all else is lost; it is this we struggle to live, too, and to share with the world.  When we lose our sense of sacrifice for something better, when we lose ourselves in the anger and rage of unfulfilled notions of entitlement, we lose our true selves and the fullness of our complete humanity.  It is a simplistic notion, indeed, when we believe the struggle for material "worldly" achievement is all there is, and one that blinds us to the struggle in the heart, and the understanding of sacrifice that is worth making even for an intangible "better."  Let us remember the "something better" for which we struggle, and which is worth all for the Resurrection it brings out of crucifixion and loss.