Many of us have heroes in our lives – heroes who risk their lives and save the lives of others. For me personally, my grandfather comes first on the list. Recently, he celebrated his 95th birthday. He has been through a lot for all those years. He was born in North Korea. But then he had to escape for his life to the South by crossing the river by swimming. Then he joined the army fighting the Korean War. Though he is very fragile now, when he was younger, he was quite athletic. He was healthy, strong, and fast. But one day in his 70s my grandfather said something like this: “I used to cross the river by swimming easily, but now I am afraid of crossing the street. I used to enjoy riding in the trunk of the military truck, but now I can hardly sit on the chair without a cushion.” To be honest, I was taken aback, because I thought that he would be always healthy and strong. It was a turning point in how I see my grandfather.
I shared this because today’s passage is also a turning point in the Gospel. It’s a turning point in the ministry of Jesus. Before this incident (chs. 1-8) Jesus had been admired by the public as a popular teacher, healer, and miracle worker. But from now on (chs. 9-16) Jesus steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem – journey to the cross as a suffering servant.
People’s Messiah
In today’s passage we can see tensions between two different concepts of Messiah – people’s Messiah and God’s messiah. Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets.” Then he asked them, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” And strangely enough, Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Why? It is because the people had false political notions of the Messiah. For more than 700 years Israel had been oppressed by foreign powers. So they were anxiously watching and waiting for their Messiah who would come, destroy their enemies, and liberate Israel. When the people saw Jesus teach with authority (like John the Baptist), and heal the sick and perform miracles (like Elijah), they were excited, thinking, ‘This man must be the Messiah.’
On another occasion, after Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, in their enthusiasm the people were about to force him to be their king. Again, they were excited and said, “Lord, give us this bread always” (John 6:34). Here they were saying, “Lord, come and fix all the problems of our lives and the world. Make us healthy and wealthy.”
God’s Messiah
But now, in today’s crucial passage, Jesus openly began to teach his disciples about the kind of Messiah he had come to be. He said, “The Son of Man must suffer and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” According to Mark, that’s God’s Messiah, who had come to die, and through his death to bring salvation and spiritual liberation for his people. For Matthew, Jesus is King of the kings, Lord of the lords. But as for Mark, Jesus is Servant – the suffering servant. At the center of Mark’s Gospel is the cross. From today’s passage, on three more separate occasions Jesus plainly said to the disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer and die” (9:31; 10:33, 45). In fact, a third of Mark’s Gospel is devoted to the story of the cross.
Why the cross? Why must Jesus suffer and die? The answer is because the Scriptures must be fulfilled. Because that’s God’s way of salvation. Isaiah, by the Holy Spirit, describes God’s Messiah as the suffering servant as follows:
In today’s passage we can see tensions between two different concepts of Messiah – people’s Messiah and God’s messiah. Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets.” Then he asked them, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” And strangely enough, Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Why? It is because the people had false political notions of the Messiah. For more than 700 years Israel had been oppressed by foreign powers. So they were anxiously watching and waiting for their Messiah who would come, destroy their enemies, and liberate Israel. When the people saw Jesus teach with authority (like John the Baptist), and heal the sick and perform miracles (like Elijah), they were excited, thinking, ‘This man must be the Messiah.’
On another occasion, after Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, in their enthusiasm the people were about to force him to be their king. Again, they were excited and said, “Lord, give us this bread always” (John 6:34). Here they were saying, “Lord, come and fix all the problems of our lives and the world. Make us healthy and wealthy.”
God’s Messiah
But now, in today’s crucial passage, Jesus openly began to teach his disciples about the kind of Messiah he had come to be. He said, “The Son of Man must suffer and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” According to Mark, that’s God’s Messiah, who had come to die, and through his death to bring salvation and spiritual liberation for his people. For Matthew, Jesus is King of the kings, Lord of the lords. But as for Mark, Jesus is Servant – the suffering servant. At the center of Mark’s Gospel is the cross. From today’s passage, on three more separate occasions Jesus plainly said to the disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer and die” (9:31; 10:33, 45). In fact, a third of Mark’s Gospel is devoted to the story of the cross.
Why the cross? Why must Jesus suffer and die? The answer is because the Scriptures must be fulfilled. Because that’s God’s way of salvation. Isaiah, by the Holy Spirit, describes God’s Messiah as the suffering servant as follows:
He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (53:3-6, NRSV)
Then, the Lord God said, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain… The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities” (vv. 10-11). By God’s will Jesus the Messiah suffered and died in our place on the cross, so that we might be set free from sin and death. Jesus is God’s Messiah, the suffering servant.
My Messiah
After revealing himself, Jesus now moved from his cross to ours. He said to the crowds, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). In other words, Jesus has to be my Messiah as well as God’s Messiah. And if Jesus is my Messiah, we too must deny ourselves and take up our cross and die to self. We all wanted to be honored and respected, rather than humiliated. But it is humiliation that leads us to humility, leads us to our humble Christ. At one of the ordination services Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, preached on humility, and the following was one of his advice:[1]
Be ready to accept humiliations. They can hurt terribly, but they help you to be humble. There can be the trivial humiliations. Accept them. There can be the bigger humiliations... All these can be so many chances to be a little nearer to our humble and crucified Lord...
Raising children can be a humiliating experience. Married life can be a humiliating experience. Fighting disease can be a humiliating experience. Aging can be a humiliating experience. All these can be great “means of grace” that draws us closer to our Savior. Sometimes we hear people say, “I don’t want to be a burden to anybody. As soon as I become a burden I would rather die.” But that is not biblical. We are all designed to be a burden to others. The Bible says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). By being a burden (depending on others) as well as carrying others’ burdens, by this humiliating experience, we can learn to be humble. We can learn to deny ourselves and die to self.
Our Lord Jesus Christ himself accepts humiliations. He is born a baby – totally dependent and vulnerable. He has to be fed. He has to be washed. He has to be taken care of. He has never skipped any part of human life. He doesn’t turn stones into bread. He doesn’t take a short cut. And at the end, on the cross, he again becomes totally dependent and vulnerable, totally humiliated. He accepts humiliations. But at any point in his life Jesus never loses his divine and human dignity. In some circumstances independence is important quality, but as disciples of Jesus, learning to be dependent and accept humiliations is a mark of maturity. When Peter was reinstated in John 21, Jesus said to him: “Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go” (v. 18).
Granddaughter
Aging is a universal experience. It’s part of God’s design. As we get old, we become more dependent, more vulnerable. It can be a humiliating experience. But at the same time, it can be a wonderful opportunity to become more like Christ, our humble Messiah.
I would like to close today’s message with Missy Buchanan’s prayer, titled, “Granddaughter”:[2]
Not so long ago I carried her in my arms
and read her favorite good-night story to her.
I held her small hand as ocean waves lapped our bare feet,
making us giggle with unbelievable joy.
But now she steadies my stooped body as I move from bed to chair.
It’s so humbling to accept help,
especially from a granddaughter who once thought
I would always be able to chase after fireflies on a summer night.
God, where are you when the generational tables are turned,
when the young care for the old?
Is it your plan that we learn to serve each other and accept being served?
Give me grace to surrender my pride,
to delight in my granddaughter’s compassion.
Let me teach her the truth about faithfulness in the trenches of life.
In this curious season where old and young intersect,
may we look in each other’s eyes and see the eyes of Christ peering back.
My prayer is that the Lord give us grace to receive God’s Messiah, humble and crucified Lord, and that we be always ready to accept humiliations – big and small, so that we too may become more like Christ. Amen.
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[1] John Stott, The Radical Disciple: Some Neglected Aspects of Our Calling (Kindle Locations 894-896). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
[2] Missy Buchanan, Living with Purpose in a Worn–Out Body (p. 12). Upper Room Books. Kindle Edition.
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