To Be Strengthened…
Key Verse
“Elijah does come first and restores all things,” he replied.“Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did whatever they pleased to him, just as it is written about him.”
— Mark 9:12-13 (CSB)
Diving Deeper into the Text
Verse for Study: Mark 8:31-33 (CSB)
” Then he began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and rise after three days. “
-Mark 8:31
Here he is speaking on behalf of Jesus, but also on behalf of what we concur as christians living in his ways. It’s necessary for us to endure harsh punishment, rejection, or even treatment from others. But what gives us grace is the knowledge that God knows our hearts and sees our compassion and love like what Jesus had. We can’t curse others when they fail to see our good works, rather shower them with our cheerfulness.
— Romans 12:8 (CSB) if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.
“He spoke openly about this. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning around and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.”
-Mark 8:32-33
Peter had been traveling alongside Jesus for quite a while at this point, so Peter should have known better. Peter let his fear get the best of him, and projected this onto Jesus. Hence why Jesus called him “Satan” because Satan was indeed working through him. This shows to prove that no matter where we are in our journey we will always have times where fear, doubt, or lack of courage may hold us back from receiving or understanding necessary messages. God knows this and forgives us when we identify those mistakes and learn from them to try to be a closer likeness to Christ. Even in the presence of Christ, Satan could still find some way to attack through Peter, but Jesus acknowledged this and rebuked the behavior. This directly displayed the message that Jesus gave. Jesus said it was necessary to fight battles from other people before we can rise. Peter’s fear started a battle when he spoke on it, but Jesus immediately let him know that those were ‘human concerns”. Acknowledging the fact that humans are not perfect, and acting in the likeness of our negative thoughts are not striving to obtain God’s will for us.