Rejecting its offer of fake peace
Proper 19B | Mark 8:27-38
We are at a turning point, friends! The path changes but the way is the same! Stay focused and keep up! Jesus is turning his face to Jerusalem and all that stuff from the first half of the journey helps us understand the second half—but now there is additional work, new things to learn, and most of all, new people to be neighbors to.
I wish we were getting here next week, however, because we’re skipping over twenty-six verses, which is a lot in the gospel of Mark. So let’s dig into some of that context quickly so we can better understand the moment we’re in.
The first twenty-one verses describe three connected stories: a miraculous feeding, a demand for a sign, and a warning to the disciples. This is one story, friends! And I think it greatly impacts how we read today’s gospel story about the naming of Jesus as Messiah, his rebuke of Peter, and the call to sacrifice at the end …
The full text may be found here.
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