The job description of “Messiah”
For many Christians, the term Messiah[1] is synonymous with who Jesus was and what He did. On this side of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus – our understanding of Messiah is inextricably linked with Jesus and all that comes with Him.
So when we read a passage such as Mark 8:27-34, we are rightly confused…
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. 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. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” 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.
How could Peter recognize Jesus as the Messiah, and then in the next breath rebuke Jesus for telling him and the rest of the disciples what His Messiahship would entail?
In order to understand this, we must look at three primary streams of thought which most first century Jews were swimming in, and how they coalesced into what we now understand to be a river headed in the wrong direction.
First, the Israelites were bound by a covenant with God. This covenant required them to follow specific rules determined by God for their interactions with Him, each other, and others. If they obeyed these rules, they could expect certain blessings. If they disobeyed these rules, they could expect certain punishments, or curses. These “Covenant Blessings” and “Covenant Curses” are spelled out in Deuteronomy 28. One important Covenant blessing was that if Israel was faithful to the covenant, she wouldn’t be ruled by foreign nations. However, if she disobeyed, she would be ruled and oppressed by foreign nations.
Second, because of Israel’s disobedience, they experienced these covenant curses and were destroyed by Assyria (who destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722BC) and Babylon (who destroyed the Southern Kingdom of Israel in 586 BC). Even over the next 600 years between the fall of Jerusalem and the time of Jesus, Israel would be ruled by Persia, Greece, and then ultimately Rome. Other than a flash of hope that lasted for about 100 years, Israel remained under foreign oppression. At the time of Jesus, Rome was their oppressor, and a ruthless one at that.
Third, through careful reading of the Old Testament prophets, many Israelites expected God to raise a new King, a “King David” or “anointed one,” who would in some way overthrow their oppressors and restore their relationship with God. This can be seen in Daniel 9, Isaiah 9 & 11, and Ezekiel 37 among other places in the Old Testament.
These three streams came together to form Peter’s (and many other Jews) expectation for the Messiah.
He expected an earthly ruler like King David; one that would set up an earthly kingdom and restore Israel’s position among the nations and therefore remove the foreign oppression of Rome.
The thought of this King dying on a cross was the antithesis of his expectations.
Therefore, while Peter was correct in identifying Jesus as the long awaited ‘anointed one’ from God whom the Old Testament writers had promised would come, he completely misunderstood Jesus’ mission.
He got the title correct, but had the wrong job description.
Jesus would go on to explode his expectation, doing far more than was ever imagined, and in a much different way than was ever anticipated.
While we might not make the same mistake Peter did with the title of Jesus, we sure do make the same mistake with ourselves.
We get the title right (“Christian”) but many of us have the wrong job description that goes with it. We’re comfortable having a little view of Jesus: relegating Him to an hour of our Sunday and then sticking him back in our pocket when we get out of church.
This is not even close to what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
We are called to make Him Lord of our lives. He is to be the ruler of every one of our actions, thoughts, and desires.
A King who rules one hour of the week is no King at all. He’s merely a figurehead stripped of any authority.
Are you willing to actually follow Jesus; to make Him Lord of your life? As Kyle Idleman asks, are you going to be a follower of Jesus, or just a fan?
[1] Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah. They both mean “Anointed One.”
Categories: Biblical Scholarship, Biblical Theology, Blog, Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Thayer Thursday, Theological issues