What does Mark 8:31 – 9:1 reveal about who God the Father is?
We learn that God works in mysterious ways. The Christ will suffer before he is raised from the dead (Mark 8:31) and he will only come in glory when he comes in judgment (Mark 8:38). This is not the way in which human expectations work. We expect someone who is important to be served by others. But God sends his Son to serve, suffer and die. The way to glory is not by exalting yourself, but humbling yourself and serving others.
We also see that God is in control. Jesus predicts his death and resurrection. God the Father gave him a specific task to fulfil.
Finally, we learn that God will come to judge humanity on the basis of our relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of Man.
What does Mark 8:31 – 9:1 reveal about what God the Son does in my place and on my behalf?
This passage draws our attention on what Jesus has come to do (Mark 8:33) and what he will come to do (Mark 8:38). He has come to bear the burden of God’s wrath in our place and to live the perfect life on our behalf, he will come again to judge. Because of what Jesus has done for me, he calls me to obedience in response to his goodness and grace.
What does Mark 8:31 – 9:1 reveal about what God the Holy Spirit does in me and through me?
God is the one who helps me to follow Jesus Christ. True faith is not something that comes from within me, it is a gift which God the Holy Spirit works in me. By his Spirit, Jesus helps me to deny myself, to take up my cross and follow him. He points me to his promises of what he will do for me (Mark 8:35–38) and also what he has done for me already (Mark 8:31; Mark 10:45).
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.