Sunday 3.31.19
Published on Mar 27, 2019
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MORE DECKS TO EXPLORE
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Tithes & Offerings
Photo by Jose Luis Mieza Photography
Responsive Scripture
Photo by Tyler Neyens
Leader: Chapter 8 of Mark’s Gospel is a pivotal chapter. It’s the climax of the first act, in which the disciples finally begin to see the true identity of the one they have been following. In it Jesus says two things: I’m a King, but a King going to a cross: and If you want to follow me, you’ve got to come to the cross too. This is how Mark tells the story:
All: 27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. (Mark 8:27-30)
Leader: Here at last Peter begins to get the answer to the big question, “Who is Jesus?” He proposes to Jesus, “You are the Christ.” Christ, meaning the Anointed One, the Messiah, the King to end all kings, the King who’s going to put everything right. You are the Messiah, Peter says. Jesus accepts the title—but then begins to say things they find appalling and shocking. “Yes, I’m the King,” he says, “but I’m not anything like the king you were expecting”:
All: 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. (Mark 8:31-32)
Leader: Jesus’s first important statement here is “The Son of Man must suffer.” Never before this moment had anyone in Israel connected suffering with the Messiah. By using the word must, Jesus is also indicating that he is planning to die—that he is doing it voluntarily. That’s why the minute Jesus says this, Peter begins to “rebuke” him. Jesus says, “I’m a King, but not like any king you ever imagined. I’m a king who must die.” He does not stop there. Mark writes:
All: 34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)
Leader: Jesus is saying, “Since I am a King on a cross, if you want to follow me you must go to a cross.” What does it mean to take up our cross? Jesus is saying, “It’s not enough just to know me as a teacher or as an abstract principle; you have to look at my life. I went to the cross—and on the cross I lost my identity so you can have one.”
Praise in Music
& Testimony Time
"Who is Jesus to Me?"
Photo by Arturo Rey
"I'll Fly Away"
Photo by Ankush Minda
Some glad morning when this life is o'er,
I'll fly away!
To a home on God's celestial shore:
I'll fly away!
I'll fly away, oh Glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, hallelujah by and by,
I'll fly away!
When the shadows of this life have gone,
I'll fly away.
Like a bird from prison bars have flown,
I'll fly away.
I'll fly away, oh Glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, hallelujah by and by,
I'll fly away!
Just a few more weary days and then
I'll fly away.
To lead on where joys shall never end:
I'll fly away.
I'll fly away, oh Glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, hallelujah by and by,
I'll fly away!
"Lord, I Lift Your Name On High"
Photo by Ismael Paramo
