Lectionary Year B
September 14, 2003
Mark 8:27-38

Step V: Distillation

A. Summary of Salient Features

(JFC) The theological point of this passage might be Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ and/or Jesus' admonition that the way to saving one's life is via self-denial, taking up crosses and following Him and/or His teaching the disciples that He must suffer, die and rise. Is one more significant than the others or are they all parts of the same element here? Other major matters in this pericope include Peter's and Jesus' rebukes, Jesus' charging them to keep the Messianic Secret and His teaching that life saving can/must be by loosing one's life. These observations leave as minor concerns, the disciples' answers to Jesus' initial question, what He told the whole crowd, i.e., self-denial, taking up crosses and following Him and the shame thing, probably because it still seems out of character for Jesus to say and because it remains problematic.

B. Smoother Translation

(JFC) 27 And Jesus and His disciples into the villages of Caeserea Phillippi; and on the way/road He was asking His disciples, saying, "Who do the people say I am?" 28 And they said to Him saying [that] John the Baptist, and others Elijah, but others tone of the prophets. 29 And He asked them, "And you (emphatic) who do you say I am? " Answering, Peter said, "You (emphatic) are the Christ/Messiah." 30 And He commanded/ordered them that no one should say/tell/speak about Him. 31 And He began to teach them that it is necessary that the Son of Man much/many things to suffer and to be rejected by the elders and the high priests and the scribes and be put to death and after three days to rise from the dead; 32 And in/with openness/frankness/boldness the word He told/said/proclaimed (this matter). And Peter took Him (unto himself) and began to rebuke Him. 33 And He having turned and seeing the disciples, He rebuked Peter and says "You go away from me, Satan, because you not do think/are you minding the things of the God but/rather those of men/people/humans. 34 And calling the crowd with His disciples, He said to them, "If anyone wishes/desires to follow Me/become a disciple of Mine, you must disown/denounce yourself and take up your cross and follow Me. 35 For any one desiring/wishing to save your life, you shall loose it; but whoever will destroy/kill/loose your life for the sake of Me and the gospel shall save/rescue it. 36 For what shall it gain/profit anyone to gain/profit/win the whole world and loose/forfeit/suffer loss of your life? 37 For what would anyone (be able) give/offer/pay to exchange your life? 38 For whoever would be ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, also the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

C. Hermeneutical Bridge

(JFC) "The popular author and former monk, Thomas Moore, in his best seller, Care of the Soul, seems to see the soul as the element that connects us to God and to our inner selves. "The cure for materialism, then, would be to find concrete ways of getting soul back into our spiritual practices, our intellectual lives, and our emotional and physical engagements with the world." (p.232, Harper, 1992). Nobody is truly fulfilled until their body and soul are in union with the divine, who wants to re-create our lives. "It is interesting that the ancient King James Version of 1611 selected the word "soul" in verse 36, "For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Both the American Standard of 1903, and the Revised Standard of 1946, use the word "life." However, the more contemporary translations: The New Testament in Modern English, translated by J.B. Phillips (1958), and The Living Bible (1971), resurrect use of the word "soul." The words Soul and Spirit are generally described as being synonymous in our society, but sometimes we see a fine line that points to the Soul as the deeper and eternal union with God that we can know. I think of it as a personal assurance of the spiritual that comes as a byproduct of many years of walking with God and living in union with Him. "Dr. Tom Stanley, author of the best selling book, The Millionaire Next Door, which has spawned the popular television series, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" utilizes the New Testament notion that our lives are a combination of Body, Spirit and Soul. In lectures that he gives to major groups all over the world, he repeats that although making a lot of money can enhance the physical life and body, the eternal element of life is the Spirit and the Soul, which lives forever. He defines Spirit as a kind of psychological and emotional self, but the Soul is the deeper inner life we have with God." Would Mark, let alone Jesus, agree?



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