Grace and Space

Mk 8:27-35

The turning or pivotal point of Mark’s Gospel consists of a three-part scenario: Peter’s confession regarding Jesus, the first prediction of the passion followed by Jesus’ rebuke of Peter, and the conditions of discipleship.
With a genuine writer’s skill, Mark begins to weave a new plot, which looks little like the first half of the Gospel.
The first scene is set on the way to Caesarea Philippi. Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” (v 27). The answers—John the Baptist, Elijah, a prophet—all concur that Jesus has prophetic status. Then Jesus poses the question to his disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” (v 29). Only Peter knows the best answer to the question: “You are the Messiah” (v 29). To say that Jesus is the Messiah is to proclaim what Mark has been insisting on throughout the Gospel, indeed from the very first verse. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. Up to this point in the Gospel, this title has meant power—power over demons, illness, nature, etc. In this sense, then, Peter’s declaration is correct.
However, this is not Mark’s theological perspective. For Mark, power is powerlessness. Being the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One of God is to be fully human. It involves suffering and death (cf v 31). 
This is a complete reversal of the first half of the Gospel! In this new, reversed plot (scene two), Mark gives Jesus a new title—Son of Man. It carries a number of Old Testament allusions but primarily represents the suffering, dying, and powerless Messiah for Mark. With this understanding, it is easy to see why Peter rebukes Jesus. Peter is interested in power; Jesus, in powerlessness.
Peter has it all wrong and Jesus calls Peter “Satan.” He is thinking as people do. God thinks differently, seeing ultimate power as powerlessness. This theme Mark will develop in the second half of the Gospel.
The author introduces it in the third part of the scenario by detailing the conditions of discipleship. Following Jesus authentically involves denial of self and taking up the cross. Self-denial and the cross have absolutely nothing to do with human power but with human powerlessness—human vulnerability.
This perspective is best summarized by Jesus when he says: “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it” (v 35). All is reversed. Life is gained by losing it. Life is lost by saving it. Jesus will demonstrate this on the cross. Mark’s new plot is now set.