(Mark 8:27-28)

There are two separate and distinct stages to Mark’s Gospel. In the first part (chapters 1-8) there are the majority of the miracles. Jesus banished an unclean spirit, cured Peter’s mother in law, cast out and silenced demons, cleansed a leper, healed a paralytic, repaired a withered hand, exorcised the Gerasene demoniac whose name is Legion, brought Jairus’ daughter back from the brink of death, staunched by a touch a flow of blood, made alive the synagogue ruler’s daughter, “ and as many as even touched his garment were made well”. In the first half there Jesus tells people to keep quiet about his identity - Mark 1.34 + 44 He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was + Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 'see that you don't tell this to anyone.'  In the first half the action takes place in Galilee (Mk 1:14). There is a sense of pace and urgency. In the first 8 chapters there are 29 examples of the Greek word ‘euthus’ (immediately). Things happen "quickly," "promptly," "as soon as," "at once," "immediately". Mark 4:29 illustrates this: In this parable of the growing seed, once the grain is ripe, the farmer "at once" begins the harvest.In the second half of the Gospel the action moves from Galilee to Jerusalem: Mark 10.32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished while those who followed were afraid.
 
There is a sense of inevitability rather than of urgency (‘euthus’ appears only 5 more times): Mark 9.31-32 He said to them, 'The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.  They will kill him and after three days he will rise.'  But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask. There are less miracles: After the Transfiguration (Mark 9 2-13) there are only two more - The healing of the boy with an evil spirit (Mark 9.14-22) and Bartimaeus (Mark 10.46-52). Jesus teaches about himself: He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things (Mark 8.31).The hinge point between these two halves of the Gospel is this incident here where Jesus acknowledges Jesus to be the Christ. Chapters 1-8 lead up to this point of recognition; chapters 9-15 build up to his death. There are two reasons why this is such a significant event. The first reason is that up until this event Jesus has not been able to talk openly about his identity, as the Son of God Jesus was not able to talk of himself as the Messiah until Peter acknowledged him as such. People’s expectations shape their categories of interpretation and if Jesus had laid claim to the title any earlier then he would have been misunderstood, either written off as the boy next door unable to perform any miracles (Mk 6:4) or else he would be lionized as the political Messiah Israel had been anticipating. Jesus was able to adopt and subvert Peter’s acknowledgement of him as the Christ in order then to present himself as the suffering servant (Mk 8:27-30).The second reason is that this marks the crosses over from action to passion. The word passion must be properly understood. We normally associate the idea of passion with suffering. However the etymology of the word to suffer meant little more than to have something happen to one, to be the one to whom something happens, or perhaps to let something happen to one. Jesus passes from doing to receiving what others do, from working to waiting, from the role of subject to that of object and in the proper sense of the word from action to passion (Vanstone 1982: 29). When Mark describes how Jesus picks the 12 disciples, Jesus is the subject of eight verbs in just nine chapters. Once the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners (Mk 14:37) he is the subject of only nine more verbs – four are negative in form or meaning (eg he said nothing (Mk 15:5), he did not take the wine mixed with myrrh (Mk 15:23)). Finally four are of him speaking and one is when he dies. There are two simple points of application. Jesus did not talk of himself as the Messiah any earlier because he knew that not only would it not do any good but also it would build up a false impression in people’s minds of whom he was and what he had come to earth to do. They did not expect and it turns out they did not want a suffering messiah. We sometimes need to recognize that we are not going to be able to explain ourselves to people – this is particularly the case when we are having an argument. Someone flings an argument at us and we long to defend ourselves. However, if you do answer back you are inadvertently acknowledging what the person has said as worthy of defence. You are agreeing to the basis on which the argument will be carried out. This can mean that you inadvertently validate the opinion that is being offered – “turn the other cheek”, Jesus says (Lk 6:29).The second point of application is that sometimes we need to let things take their course and have our own period of passion. We admire people who work, earn, achieve, and manage. What this passage points at is the dignity of waiting on the world and receiving from others – yes I do need help, yes I am unhappy. We want to mend, solve, sort out, cope manage and we don’t allow ourselves our passion and leave space for others to do that for us. I am just now completing my first year at St Stephens. At the moment my work is active – I am pushing, trying to initiate ideas, to make things happen and to get things done. The time will come when you have a strong sense of what I am trying to achieve and you will decide for yourselves what you make of my ideas – I will then cross from action to passion. Then I will have to let events take their courseVanstone, W. (1982) The Stature of Waiting, London, Darton, Longman and Tod