Introduction
Will you follow Jesus only as long as He matches your expectations, or will you follow Him even when His plan includes a cross before a crown? The central teaching of Mark 8:27–33 is that the question “Who is Jesus?” is the continental divide of your life, and the true answer must include both His identity as the Christ and His mission of suffering, death, and resurrection.
Mark brings us to the very center of his Gospel, chapter 8 of 16, because everything up to this point has been building toward one unavoidable question, and everything after it will flow from how it’s answered. Just like the “trivial” questions people wager on during a big sporting event, life is full of questions and answers. But this one isn’t a wager of money or a Sunday afternoon, it’s a wager of your life.
Main Points
Will you follow Jesus only as long as He matches your expectations, or will you follow Him even when His plan includes a cross before a crown? The central teaching of Mark 8:27–33 is that the question “Who is Jesus?” is the continental divide of your life, and the true answer must include both His identity as the Christ and His mission of suffering, death, and resurrection.
Mark brings us to the very center of his Gospel, chapter 8 of 16, because everything up to this point has been building toward one unavoidable question, and everything after it will flow from how it’s answered. Just like the “trivial” questions people wager on during a big sporting event, life is full of questions and answers. But this one isn’t a wager of money or a Sunday afternoon, it’s a wager of your life.
The Unavoidable Question Of Your Soul
I want you to feel the weight of what Jesus is doing here. On the road to Caesarea Philippi, walking with His disciples, Jesus asks a question that exposes what’s really driving everything else in your life:
- “Who do men say that I am?” (Mark 8:27)
- “But who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29)
You can’t answer this question with indecision. Even refusing to answer is an answer, because life keeps moving, “church happened,” time passed, opportunities came and went. In the same way, the question of your soul will not wait until you feel ready. The question will meet you, and it will shape your destiny.
Popular Opinion Isn’t Saving Faith
The disciples report what “the word on the street” is:
- “John the Baptist”
- “Elijah”
- “One of the prophets” (Mark 8:28)
These answers aren’t insults. They’re respectful comparisons, moral reformer, miracle-working prophet, messenger of God. And that’s often how the world treats Jesus today: honored, admired, “safe,” and containable.
Even many religions and worldviews will speak well of Him while still missing Him:
- A prophet, but not Savior
- A spiritual being, but not God
- A great teacher, but not King
I’m urging you not to confuse high regard for true faith. Jesus didn’t ask this to manage public relations; He asked it to show how easily crowds can be sincerely impressed, and sincerely wrong.
Jesus Presses You For A Personal Confession
Then Jesus turns the question directly toward His followers: “But who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29). You won’t be able to rest on what your culture says, what your family thinks, or what your favorite preacher taught.
This is personal, not private, but personal. You must answer for yourself, because your answer will shape what you believe about:
- God and His kingdom
- your purpose and meaning
- sin and salvation
- your future and eternity
And here, Peter gives the right confession: “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29), the Messiah, the Anointed One, the King God promised, the One everyone had been waiting for.
Spiritual Sight Is A Gift From God
Mark’s Gospel has repeatedly shown people struggling to see, Pharisees, crowds, even the disciples. Right before this section, we saw the picture of literal blindness being healed, and it’s not accidental. It prepares us for a deeper truth: seeing Jesus rightly is God’s mercy.
Matthew’s parallel account makes this explicit. After Peter confesses Christ, Jesus tells him:
“Blessed are you… for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17)
So I want to disciple you in two directions at once:
- If you truly see Jesus as the Christ, you are blessed. Not because you were smarter, but because God opened your eyes. Worship should rise in you from gratitude: “God, You let me see.”
- If you don’t see Him yet, don’t pretend you do, seek Him. Jesus Himself invites seekers:
“Ask… seek… knock…” (Matthew 7:7–8) God meets honest searching with real revelation.
Revelation Must Lead To Education
After Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ, Jesus “strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him” (Mark 8:30). Why? Because they had the right title, King, but not yet the right understanding of the mission.
Then comes a crucial discipleship pattern:
“And He began to teach them…” (Mark 8:31)
Wherever God gives revelation, God also gives instruction. When you first come to see Jesus as Savior and King, you’re not automatically mature. You need Jesus to teach you what His kingship truly means, how He saves, what He values, and how His plan overturns human expectations.
The Christ’s Mission Includes The Cross
Jesus teaches “openly” now, not in parables:
- “The Son of Man must suffer many things”
- “be rejected… and be killed”
- “and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31)
Please hear this: Christ means crown, but the path to the crown is the cross. Jesus is not a king who comes to be served, but a King who comes to serve, through suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection.
This is where many hearts stumble, including the hearts of sincere disciples. We may love Jesus as long as His plan looks like victory on our terms. But when His plan includes loss, suffering, waiting, or death-to-self, we start trying to correct Him.
Loving Jesus Can Still Resist God’s Plan
Peter “took Him aside and began to rebuke Him” (Mark 8:32). Maybe it sounded like devotion: “Lord, not You.” Maybe it sounded like disappointment: “This isn’t what the Messiah is supposed to do.” Either way, Peter tries to separate Jesus’ identity from Jesus’ mission.
But Jesus won’t allow that separation. He turns, looks at all the disciples (this lesson is for everyone), and rebukes Peter:
“Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mark 8:33)
This is sobering, and it’s loving. Jesus is showing us that I can confess “You are the Christ” and still, in practice, oppose the very plan that makes Him Christ-for-me. I can cherish Jesus’ person while resisting God’s purposes. That is not the path of discipleship.
So I want you to learn this in your bones: following Jesus means surrendering not only to who He is, but to how He saves and how He leads.
Conclusion
Mark 8 brings us to the dividing line: Jesus asks the ultimate question, and Peter answers correctly, Jesus is the Christ. But immediately Jesus teaches what “Christ” truly means: not immediate glory, but suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. And Peter’s rebuke exposes the ongoing battle in every disciple: the temptation to love Jesus while demanding He follow our script.
So here is the call I’m placing before you in love: Answer Jesus personally, “You are the Christ”, and then follow Him humbly as He teaches you the way of the cross. If you see Him, thank God for the gift. If you don’t see Him yet, ask, seek, and knock until He opens your eyes.
Father in heaven, we confess that the most important question of our lives is who Jesus is. Thank You for sending Your Son, the Christ, the true King. Thank You that spiritual sight is Your gift and not our achievement. Where we have only repeated the opinions of others, bring us to true personal faith. Where we have tried to separate Jesus’ crown from His cross, forgive us and renew our minds to be mindful of the things of God and not merely the things of men. Open blind eyes in this room, strengthen weak faith, and teach us to follow Jesus as Lord even when the path is hard. We ask, we seek, and we knock, trusting Your promise to meet us with grace. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Conclusion
Mark 8 brings us to the dividing line: Jesus asks the ultimate question, and Peter answers correctly, Jesus is the Christ. But immediately Jesus teaches what “Christ” truly means: not immediate glory, but suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. And Peter’s rebuke exposes the ongoing battle in every disciple: the temptation to love Jesus while demanding He follow our script.
So here is the call I’m placing before you in love: Answer Jesus personally, “You are the Christ”, and then follow Him humbly as He teaches you the way of the cross. If you see Him, thank God for the gift. If you don’t see Him yet, ask, seek, and knock until He opens your eyes.
Closing Prayer
Father in heaven, we confess that the most important question of our lives is who Jesus is. Thank You for sending Your Son, the Christ, the true King. Thank You that spiritual sight is Your gift and not our achievement. Where we have only repeated the opinions of others, bring us to true personal faith. Where we have tried to separate Jesus’ crown from His cross, forgive us and renew our minds to be mindful of the things of God and not merely the things of men. Open blind eyes in this room, strengthen weak faith, and teach us to follow Jesus as Lord even when the path is hard. We ask, we seek, and we knock, trusting Your promise to meet us with grace. In Jesus’ name, amen.