PraxeasThis passage is the center of Mark’s Gospel, the hinge on which the two halves of the story turn. The theme is the identity and mission of Jesus himself, beginning with his question to the disciples “who do people say that I am?” When Peter famously answers “You are the Christ,” we have reached a real but brief high point. (cont.)
Yet Jesus’ elaboration of “Christ” involves an odd shift of language, since he speaks about the “Son of Man"/"Human One." While it has connotations of “one of us,” the title suggests a specific, representative human figure who will be glorified by God in the midst of a cosmic combat (Dan 7). Jesus does not see his struggle as a merely personal, political, or religious one, but as God’s definitive intervention in history. (cont.)
The nature of messiahship is a surprising fact that must be known, while Jesus being the Messiah is an obvious reality that must be kept secret. The call to “take up the cross” in particular now points the finger at the Roman occupying power, whose distinctive instrument of torture the cross was. Centuries of mis-reading this image must be noted; Jesus does not invite us to offer our various forms of suffering to God—or rather, this is not the point here. More at https://open.substack.com/pub/abmcg/p/on-the-road-at-caesarea-the-human?r=chywz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
