How to be a True Christian

Mark 8:22-9:1

Three different stories occur in this section of the Gospel of Mark.  First, Jesus attempts to heal a blind man with spit.  I use the word attempts because it takes Jesus two tries, yet he does not blame the man for a lack of faith.  Second, Peter uses the term “Christ” to describe Jesus, yet this is a political title.  Jesus prefers “Son of Man”.  Third, Jesus tells his disciples that he will die. John Mark ends the chapter with one of the most important saying of Jesus.  This teaching of Jesus has been massively watered down by the “christian” of today.

We are given no explanation for why Jesus cannot heal the blind man, or even why he had to spit in the man’s eyes.  Jesus does like to make a show out of it, and then tell the people not to spread the news!  The other odd part of this story is that the man knew what a tree looked like.  I sorry, but how does a blind man know what a tree looks like but not what a person looks like?

In the next section Jesus asked his disciple who they think he was.  Peter spoke up and used the term “Christ”.  This term has a very earthly and political (from New Advent) meaning.  There was little doubt that the Jews of the time believed that the Christ was going to come and rule on earth, in the process saving the Promised People from the oppression of the Romans.  How odd that they are now the oppressors!  Jesus prefers the Son of Man, which is should tell you something about who he was.  Just as using the word “Christian” is one of the major things that is miss leading in the US today’s major religion, so is using the term “Christ” to describe Jesus.  This use of “Christ” alone is a Tradition of Man not one of the YHWH who they claim to worship!  The emerging Church may have it right.  But there is no doubt that Jesus preferred the term “Son of Man (Gospel Mysteries)”.

In the last part of this chapter, Jesus tells his disciples what is going to happen to the Son of Man (not the Christ).  Peter immediately attempts to tell Jesus that he is wrong, because Peter (the Rock of the Church) believes in an earthly messiah…not a spiritual one.  Jesus blames Satan for this and is extremely hard on Peter.  Did Jesus forget that it was his responsibility to teach his disciples the truth?  Why had he not been clearer with them?  Or is it that YHWH was not ready to reveal the truth to even the apostles?

The ending paragraph of this chapter is one of my favorites.  This is because it is so simple, yet our “Christians” today cannot live up to this commandment from Jesus.  It is worth repeating exactly the way John Mark records it:

Mark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Notice the word “must” this does not mean “try your best” nor does it mean “pray me into your heart”.  This means that anyone who will be saved must give up everything including their life to follow Jesus.  This certainly does not occur today!  This is a strong commandment by Jesus that is completely watered down by “christians”.  And this is why I do not always capitalize the word “chirstian”.  If I ever see a true follower of Jesus I will use the proper capitalization, because that person will have gained the respect of a gay Atheist!

Jesus closed this discussion with the first verse in chapter 9:

Mark 9:1 And he said to them: “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.

Notice that the word “kingdom” is not capitalized.  Jesus certainly is revering to the Church.  This event occurred on the Day of Pentecost.

People if you believe that you are a “True Christian” this is the chapter that you should follow.  Jesus spells it out for you here.  Take up your cross for real!  Don’t be wimps; be ready to die for your beliefs.  If the Muslims can do it, why can’t you?  Be unified in the one Body! There is only one YHWH, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit…only one religion with no denominations.  Only one of your denominations is right, figure out what is wrong today and become the disciples of Jesus!  Otherwise, your just wasting your life pretending.

This entry was posted on May 29, 2010, 7:12 am at 07:12 and is filed under kingdom of God, Gospel of Mark, Disciples, Readings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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