know God coach huddle for May 7, 2025
Mark 8:15-16, 27-29, 31-32, 34-35 NIV “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.” 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.” 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. 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. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.8.15-34.NIV
When God came to earth to live among us as one of us so that He could offer Himself a perfect human sacrifice for the sins of humanity, it was not obvious to the Jews, and neither did He always try to make Himself unquestionably clear. Jesus fulfilled all of the Scripture, forecasting God’s coming to earth as Savior and Lord. Yet the Messiah expected was not the Messiah who came because the clarity of Jesus in the Scripture was not obvious. Today, the Jews still reject Jesus as Messiah, and many Christians reject His work as fully accomplished, expecting instead for Him to return again from heaven to live on earth as the Messiah expected by the Jews. Jesus, as God, could have said to beware of the teachings of the Pharisees, but instead, He said to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees. This terminology created confusion among the disciples instead of clarity. The people were confused about His role as Messiah being rejected unto crucifixion by the religious leaders. Peter seeks to rebuke God for His error in understanding the Scripture when God fully explains from the Scripture the life of the Messiah. Yet God is crystal clear in His communication of what He expects of us. Jesus’ call to discipleship among His people is without fog or confusion, yet we live as though we don’t understand His words. If we embrace Jesus as God in man and understand His fulfillment of Scripture as Messiah, then we have no excuse for ignoring His clear commands as that Messiah. Some of the Scripture remains a mystery to us, like how and when Jesus will return and what happens to us until then if we sleep or live immediately with God in paradise. What is not confusing and what our focus and effort should remain upon is the command of Jesus to follow Him by denying ourselves so that we can work for Him by going into all the world and making disciples.
