Have you ever found yourself getting caught up in your own concerns? Have your worries kept you up at night? Does your anxiety interfere with you daily tasks? If the answer is yes, do not feel shame. After all, this is human nature. But God does not want you to stay in this place. Instead, he wants you to turn your eyes to Jesus and to find peace in who Jesus is and what he has done!
In Mark chapter 8, Jesus not only reveals who he is, but what will happen to him. Mark 8:29-3 reads, “29 “But what about you?” [Jesus] asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. 31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
There are so many essential truths found in this passage. First, Peter and his disciples show that they know the most important fact of life, that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s King! This is the very belief that we must hold in order to be a Christian. This is what we have to believe in order to experience God’s salvation.
But the joy of this truth is quickly overshadowed in Mark 8 by what Jesus reveals must happen to him next. He says that he will not have an easy earthly life, and that he will have to suffer. He will be rejected, be crucified, and then he will rise again. And while we take this as fact now, we must remember that this is shocking, novel information to the disciples. It was the first time that anyone was hearing it. So Peter does not initially accept it. He responds to Jesus how any of us would, by rebuking him. Peter essentially tries to take the cross right out of Jesus’ hands because he wants him to live.
While Peter’s response is real and relatable, Jesus replies, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Mark 8:33). Peter knew and voiced the concerns of man. They wanted a living and thriving King, not a dead Messiah. But what were God’s concerns here? God’s concern was not the same as man’s. God’s concern is what it always has been and always will be- our salvation! And thank God for that!
In the end, this chapter not only reveals who Jesus is, but it invites us to view things more like God does. How can we view things differently and how can we be changed by knowing Jesus? We can put aside our self-centered wants and concerns and think about God. This can and should be the center of every prayer in every situation. We can ask, God, what’s your concern here? Lord, please help me to make your concern, my concern!
Practical Tips
Rest in the knowledge that Jesus is the Messiah.
Honor your concerns, but don’t obsess over them.
Reframe your wants and concerns to think about how they relate to God’s wants and concerns.
Put God’s wants and concerns over your own in all situations and feel the peace that will follow!
