Jesus Passage Analysis

This passage from Mark includes an open acclamation that Jesus is Christ, the first prediction of Jesus’ death, and a reflection of true discipleship. In the opening scene, as Jesus and the disciples are on their way to Caesarea Philippi, the reader sees that even while in route to their destination their work never ends as they grapple with the questions that Jesus asks. It seems that Mark desires to make it clear that in the eyes of Jesus, the disciples are set apart from the masses in the line of questioning he presents, showing that Jesus wants them to express who others believe He is and then who they believe He is. In continuation with this, it is also evident that the disciples, or at the very least Peter, indeed do see Jesus differently …show more content…
In this passage it doesn’t seem like enough attention is given to the fact that He will die and the authority that He carries in His ability to raise Himself from the dead and instead it followed by Peter rebuking Jesus. At this time no one realizes that His death holds the promise of vindication for not only Himself, but others as well. It is not made clear why Peter is rebuking Him, but one can assume it is in protest to what Jesus is saying is going to happen to Him, which makes it clear that the fact that Jesus is saying that He will rise is not resonating with Him. However, it is not hard to understand Peter’s confusion because this is apparently the first time the concept of resurrection is being introduced to them. While it is not hard to understand why Peter was confused, one must wonder why Peter thought he had the right to rebuke Jesus, typically when you rebuke someone you are demonstrating authority over them, in this instance we see Peter once again setting Himself apart from the other disciples and speaking up in an attempt to sway Jesus. To this Jesus responds back by rebuking Him in return, calling Him Satan and telling Him that His mind is on the things of man. Although, Peter was a disciple of Jesus and had come forth in saying that Jesus was the Christ, in this moment he had let go of the things that were on the mind of God that he had just revealed in his earlier proclamation and he was now voicing what was on the mind as the enemy and therefore he was addressed as Satan. Peter’s statement was essentially trying to get Jesus to avoid the cross, which was His mission and God’s will, but if Peter could not accept what the Messiah must do, how could he possibly