Conversation Points for Mark 8:31-38

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah is only part of the revelation of Jesus’ identity. Perkins writes that Peter’s confession will be misunderstood without this second section, that suffering too is central to Jesus’ identity. The Son of Man did not come just to exercise authority on earth, but also to suffer and die.
• The word “rebuke” used by Peter in v. 32 is the same word used to refer to silencing demons. It gives Peter’s words a stronger edge; he seems to feel Jesus is possessed with this claim of suffering.
• Even without the sharp language, critique of a teacher would be out of the question in ancient society. While harsh sounding to modern ears, Jesus’ response of calling Peter “Satan” is an appropriate response.
• Jesus used the term “Son of Man” in this passion prediction. Earlier, Jesus used “Son of Man” while in controversy with opponents over the authority to forgive sins (2:10) and to heal on the sabbath (2:28). In Daniel, the “son of man” ascends to the divine throne, providing a framework for Jesus’ resurrection and return as judge (Daniel 7:13-14, “As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed”). Given these two uses, proving Jesus’ authority now and in the future, the connection with the suffering Jesus at first seems out of place. But Daniel is apocalyptic literature, meaning the son of man in Daniel is connected to the suffering of Israel, and the promise that God is with them and has not forgotten them. This passion prediction connects Jesus’ suffering to the people’s suffering. Jesus as Son of Man did not identify with the righteous from a distance, but actually experiences what they experienced, including suffering. The eventual resurrection is what sets Jesus’ suffering apart from those of other prophets, and leads to his eventual return as judge.
• In v. 32a, Jesus makes these predictions “quite openly” indicating Jesus knows what will be coming. This makes Jesus’ enemies a part of the plan even as they are attempting to be hostile to him.
• The verses on the inevitability of suffering would have been comforting to Mark’s readers, who were actively experiencing persecution. They would have found it comforting that Jesus anticipated their struggles.

Works Sourced:
Perkins, Pheme. “The Gospel of Mark.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.