Sunday Sermon - July 19, 2026 - Gospel of Mark 8:22-38 - Healing, Confession, Death and Resurrection

 After Jesus attempts to teach the disciples about the Pharisees additions to the law but has to re-direct them from worrying about bread and filling their stomachs, Jesus arrives in Bethsaida this was the place that Jesus had sent the disciples in Mark 6:45 when Jesus came walking on the water. Bethsaida is just north of Decapolis. Our Roman reader has learned much about Jesus, but these next several verses are going to open up a whole new perspective for the Roman and introduce concepts that he will have to ponder and maybe do some extra education about. If there is anything about the Christian faith that our Roman ruler has learned is that Christianity does not treat you like an infant, it does not hand you information on a platter and explains everything like you are 5. God expects you to engage that brain of yours, to work through the text, and to seek answers to the questions that the text presents. This would be the case here; Jesus is going to ask questions and is going to give answers that will lead to more questions being asked. It is in this opportunity of questions and answers that the Gospel can be presented, it can be shown.

Mark 8:22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.

The theme continues, when Jesus comes to an area, people seek him out. The question needs to be asked, did the people bring the man because they wanted the man to regain his sight, or did they want to see if this Jesus could do what He said he could do, heal the blind, and the sick. The text does not say specifically, but it may seem that they brough this blind man against his own will. Unlike Mark 2, in which the friends bring the paralytic man, this text does not denote that the people who brought the blind man to Jesus were his friends, most likely they are not, they are men who want to see if Jesus can do what they have heard of him doing. They are here for the show, the poor blind man is a prop.

Mark 8:23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”

Mark 8:24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”

Mark 8:25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

Mark 8:26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Clearly the man used to be able to see, because when Jesus ask him do you see anything, he makes reference to people looking like trees, so he has a frame of reference by which to tell. But again as before, why is Jesus going through this step process, and we know that healings are for the Jews to gain a sign, to see how the sausage is made. Once the man sight is fully restored, Jesus sends the man away from those who brought him. Jesus knows that those people were just using him, and Jesus wants to deny them their reward, Jesus tells the man, go home, do not go back to those people.

After the healing of the blind man, Jesus and his disciples start to walk to the next town on their travels which is to the north of Bethesda 

Mark 8:27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

This is a two-part question, first Jesus ask the disciples who do the people that you interact with say that I am. The statement I AM ego eimi in Greek carries a lot of theological weight, that is more fleshed out in the Gospel of John, however in this context, and for our Roman reader, it is placed in a simpler context, Jesus ask who do people say that I am? Jesus knows that when He sent out the disciples to spread the news of the Gospel, that those people would ask the disciples who had sent them out. This was a common event for these teachers or Rabbi’s to send out their disciples to teach others, and by what authority does that Rabbi have. A normal response would have been much like the one given by the Apostle Paul

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city (Jerusalem) educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers being zealous for God as all of you are this day” Acts 22:3

This would have been a proper response for most any other Rabbi, but Jesus has none of that, He does not have the formal education of a Rabbi moving up the ladder of authority, He was a working man, the son of a carpenter, from the tribe of Judah, and yet while He teaches with authority, He does not have the same authority that comes with position and status, He is not a Levite, He is not from the tribe of Benjamin the beloved son of Jacob, the last born from his beloved wife Rachel, Jesus has none of this going for Him and in fact the town He was raised in was well know for being the place of a bunch of worthless people. Our Roman friend will not read that here, but we know, from the Gospel of John that Nathaniel states those all too familiar phrase, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

So, the question is important, after having been out doing the work of teaching the people, Jesus is not gaging the people through His disciples, who do people say that I am.

Mark 8:28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”

We know of course at this time, John the Baptist is dead, and that the person of Jesus has been taken over by the spirit of John the Baptist, yes there are those who would believe such a thing. That John being unjustly killed having not finished his work of calling men to repent and turn to God, took over the ministry of Jesus, because the are pretty much teaching the same thing, only now is Jesus doing these supernatural things, which John did not do.

But these miracles that Jesus is doing, John did no miracles, so it would have to be some great prophet and the one most notable who never died was who? Elijah., Elijah who rode the off into heaven on a chariot of fire, never to be seen again, and the just maybe one of the prophets, we are not sure which one. But who they are not saying is what is about to come next.

Mark 8:29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”

Now Jesus changes the question slightly seeing that some of the disciples may actually agree with the assessment of the people, Jesus says, ok, but who do You say that I am.

Now whether that question hung up there for a minute or Peter just blurted out the answer we don’t know, but what we do know is that Peter gets it. Jesus is not just someone else, Jesus is the Messiah, the one that God had promised to send to Israel to set them free. The word Cristos in the Greek the Anointed One or Chosen one. Now our Roman reader the term Cristos is not a term that he has to wonder about. There have been quite of few Cristos that have come across the Roman history, so a Jewish Cristos would make sense. Now what Jesus was chosen for, that is another matter, this the Roman does not know as of yet. However, Peter does not lack any information on the matter of the Cristos, for Peter, the Cristos, the Anointed One, or Chosen one is the one who is coming to restore the Kingdom of Israel, the throne of David and in order to do that, He must first get rid of these Romans, run them out of town. In fact Peter and the disciples are holding onto that until the very end. In Acts 1:6 when Jesus is getting ready to return to heaven, what is it that they ask Jesus about? The restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. That is what the Christ is supposed to be doing, getting rid of the Romans re-establishing the Kingdom of Israel.

Mark 8:30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Now why does Jesus say, do not tell anyone about what you just heard Peter say?

Because the word getting out that Jesus is the Christ, the Cristos, the Messiah carries serious implications.

1.     There are already a bunch of guys going around claiming to be the Messiah, and they are causing a lot of trouble. They are attacking the Romans, they are causing death and destruction, and the Romans are none to please with these folks, so much so that anyone who claims to be a Messiah, a Cristos is taken out and killed.

2.     The real Messiah threatens the Jewish power structure. Currently a group of Religious elites have complete control over the Jewish, they can pretty much punish anyone they want, the only thing they cannot do is to kill someone, only the Romans could do that.

3.     Allowing that information to get out would become distraction to what Jesus was actually doing, which is what he is going to talk about next. What the people taught the role of the Cristos was, and what it was meant to do, is as different at night and day.  

Mark 8:31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

So, let’s look at what Jesus is says that the Messiah, Son of Man, that phrase Jesus used for Himself in Mark 2 must. These must happen, they are not maybe to happen, not possibility to happen, but must happen.

1.     Suffer many things

2.     Be rejected by the Jewish leadership

3.     Killed

4.     And after being dead for three days rise again.

Now our Roman reader must be going, ok this is a plot twist. This Jesus, the guy who is doing all the great things, teaching with authority, teaching even those who are not Jewish, healing people, raising people from the dead, feeding thousands of people, all of this good stuff, casting out demons, this Jesus is doing some wonderful things for people, now after doing all of this stuff, He is saying that I am going to suffer many things, I will be rejected by the Jewish leadership, I will be killed, and after three days I will rise again. This is a complete 180 degree change, there is so much positive in the ministry of Jesus, but now He is telling us, that all of these horrible things, must happen.

Why?

Well Jesus has not answered that question yet, and our Roman reader is left scratching his head trying to figure out the plot twist, the complete change in the narrative, one that was very positive in nature to one that is very negative in nature.

And what is missing is the reason. Jesus went He first declared His ministry the reason was in the mission statement

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel.”

So we have seen this mission statement being played out through these chapters, but now the mission seems to either has been changed or had something additional added onto it.

Mark 8:32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

Mark 8:33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Peter’s reaction is natural. Jesus is not only his rabbi, a mentor but also a close friend, and when a friend tells you that they are going to suffer, be rejected, and die, well you are going to say to them, hey man, that is some strong words, is there something going on, because I can tell you, as far as I am concerned, I am not going to allow that to happen.

But Jesus does not hold back on Peter, and this is the key here, please pay attention, Jesus says to Peter that your focus is on the wrong thing and in the wrong place. You are holding onto this temporal existence as if this is all you have, and it is not, that speech Jesus gave them about the focusing on the bread is nothing compared to what He is getting ready to tell Peter right now.

Get behind me Satan – He called Peter Satan, one of his best friends and closes disciples, Jesus called Peter Satan. Now remember back to the woman, Jesus called a dog, you want to be called a dog or Satan?

Call me Rover.

Jesus calls Peter Satan, why because his mind and his heart are on this time and place rather than seeking the kingdom of God

Oh, but Jesus is not finished yet.

Mark 8:34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

A lot of people say, that this proves that the Gospels were written well after Jesus death because it included references to the cross. Those people are completely ignorant of history. The Romans had been in the crucifying business for a while. These people had seen friends, neighbors, family members having to walk from the city gates throughout the land to an open area, having railroad spikes nailed through their lower hand and upper wrist, and through their feet and lifted up in the air and then slowly die. These people who heard Jesus say, take up your cross and follow me, knew what He was talking about, this path is not a happy path, this path is not a path of good time, and wonderful memories, this is about pain and suffering and death and if you are not willing to walk that path, you are not willing to deny yourself, not only the comforts of life, but even life itself for Jesus, then you are not worthy to be His disciple.

Mark 8:35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

We gloss over these verses, we quickly read them because we want to get back to the good stuff, the healings, the casting out demons, the feeding, all these good things, so let’s just read over them quickly. But you cannot, because if you do then you lose the meaning of the Gospel message. So you have to sacrifice what you want for Christ.

In our Wednesday night Bible Study we just finished 1 Samuel and started 2 Samuel which David finds out about Saul and Jonathan’s death, and we looked at how Jonathan has laid down his life for David. Jonathan sacrificed his relationship with his father for David, he sacrificed his position of power by not taking the throne for himself but keeping David safe.

Saul sought to save his life by taking David’s life, in doing so, he lost it. Jonathan saved his life, by sacrificing himself for David.

Jesus calls us to do the same, we are to lose this physical temporal life for the Gospel, we are to make what we want secondary to that of God, we are to lay down our lives for Christ.

Mark 8:36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

What good is your money, your house, this church, your position, your status, tell me what good is any of that when you are dead and gone? Oh it will be good for someone else, you can gain it all, and when you are on your death bed it will not gain you a second in heaven, not amount of money, not house, car, not even your church attendance will grant you anything. One day this is will something else, unless Jesus comes back, one day this building will not be standing, something will happen to it, and then what good will it be then? Nothing. You profit nothing by holding onto something that does not build the Kingdom of God. And let me remind you that Jesus never taught inside a single church, the vast majority of His ministry was done outside, in the weather.

What does it profit you to hold onto something from the past, of this world, and forfeit your soul?

Mark 8:37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?

Mark 8:38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Jesus is making a black and white statement, one that our secular postmodernist society does not like nor wants to hear. Jesus does not dwell in the gray areas; He is clear on his teachings and to reject His teachings is to reject Him. A rejection of Jesus is a rejection of God. Jesus makes it clear, you do not confess Him now, He will not confess you before the Father in the next life. This all ties together, the profit of earthly riches, the profit of temporal wishes and desires is a denial of Christ. We must be all in for Jesus anything less is trying to live in the gray.

 

Darin Bracy is the pastor at Yorktown Baptist Church in Yorktown Virginia. He is a graduate of Veritas Baptist College with a BA in Ministry and a minor in History. He has a wife Stacy, two daughters, Ashlynne and her husband Justin, their daughter Harper Darin's other daughter Aftyn, and her two dogs, Eddie and Lulubelle.

You can reach Darin at his email address, Darinbracy@gmail.com and you can see his video content on YouTube – Basic Baptist Guy