Part 20 of Jesus in Action: The Gospel Message of Mark – Our passage this morning is a turning point in the Gospel. Here, for the first time, Jesus is declared to be the Christ (the Messianic King) by one of his followers. But Peter’s vision is still clouded, as here, for the first time, Jesus speaks openly about the necessity of his suffering, death and resurrection.  We see the paradox of a King who must die on a cross, and the paradox that to really find ourselves, we must first lose ourselves for Jesus.

Our passage is about personal identity: Jesus’ true identity, and ours.