Feb 7 2019 Mark 8:27-9:1

But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’. 

This is an odd little section. Jesus starts by asking his disciples who others say that he is. First of all, if he’s God incarnate, wouldn’t he know?  Maybe he’s not asking to truly find out, but for the power of suggestion. After his disciples have recounted what they’ve heard – you are John the Baptist, Elijah, etc -he asks them who do they say he is. Peter responds correctly, that he’s the Messiah, although at this point, Peter might have different ideas about what that will entail, like Jesus will be the one who kicks the occupying Romans to the curb versus Jesus will bring God’s love to all.
After this, Jesus tells them that he’ll undergo great suffering, be rejected by the religious leaders and be killed. Again Peter chimes in and “rebukes”. I can imagine what hot-headed-always-loyal Peter was saying?  “Are you crazy? That can’t be! Just tell me who’s going to do that, and I’ll kick them to the curb!”  In response, Jesus “rebukes” Peter. This time, we see what rebuke means, “get behind me Satan, for you are setting your mind on human things, not heavenly”. 

Wait, what?  If I was following Jesus at that time, I’d want him to stick around too. I’d want to protect his human life, as that’s all I’d have. As it turns out, I do that today too. All of the people in my world that I care deeply about, even those I care only a little about, I’d try to protect their human body from harm, from being killed or dying. I do that for myself too.

I don’t think Jesus is saying that we shouldn’t try to protect the ones we love, but I do think it’s a hard message we need to hear. I think Jesus is saying that his earthly body is just a vessel, carrying a deeply important soul. A soul that will continue on, when the vessel is broken. We too are deeply important souls, carried in a impermanent vessel. We should care more about the contents than the vessel. 

When we care too much for the human body at the expense of the soul, we miss the point. I’ve seen this in recent days, caring for sick loved ones. When my father in law made a choice to break the vessel to free his soul, taking advantage of the death with dignity laws. Some people around him rebuked him, arguing, “Are you crazy? This can’t be!”  His holy soul continues, despite the broken body. 

I’ve seen this when dealing with very sick family members. We care more about physically healing the body than lovingly caring for the soul. The body is just a vessel. But the soul is holy and forever. 

It’s a fine line between caring for the temporal bodies of our loved ones and ourselves, and doing that at the expense of tending the holy soul it contains.