Mark 8:31-38 Soul Freedom

Jesus begins to tell his disciples about his persecution by the religious leaders, that he would be killed, and then raised from the dead.   Peter tried to reprimand/correct Jesus about this, and Jesus says a harsh thing "Get away from me, Satan!" he said "You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's."   How many times do we struggle with this?  Not the passage, but seeing things from just the human point of view?   Peter fell into that trap, and the interesting thing is that this is where Satan loves to work doesn't he?  

Peter didn't want to hear the truth, he wanted to hear a bright outcome.    Peter in prior versus new that Jesus was the Messiah, but when he heard that Jesus was going to be persecuted, and put to death, then rise again, I don't think this is the Messiah that he understood.   I wonder if he thought that the Messiah would be what the Jewish people imagined ... someone coming on a horse, and raising up the people, and freeing them from Roman occupation.   Peter was thinking about the now, the current political situation, not the kind of freedom that God was going to give to his people.

See the following verses to be a follower of Christ (vs. 34), we need to:

• turn from selfish ways
• take up our cross
• Give up our lives for the sake of Christ, and the sake of the Good News
• Not be ashamed of Jesus and His message

Why is Jesus doing this?   Verse 36 "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?"

The true Messiah wasn't about political freedom was ... it was Soul Freedom.    as Jesus says in vs. 37 "Is anything worth more than your own soul?"  

Our message isn't about Political movements, it about soul movements.    About sharing the love of Christ, and the Good News of our redemption found through what He did on the Cross for us.   It's not easy to be a follower of Christ, but once more "What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?"