…Mark 9:30-32 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
In a few minutes, we will eat the Lord’s Supper together. Paul says that whenever God’s people eat of the bread and drink of the cup of the Lord together, they proclaim the Lord’s death. Meaning, they celebrate, and uphold, and exalt the Lord’s death as sufficient for salvation in the new covenant. The early church appears to have eaten the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. They recognized the need to regularly remember the death of Christ in a tangible way.
Paul, on all his apostolic, missionary journeys said that he determined to know nothing among the churches except Christ and Christ crucified. Meaning, Paul’s entire life and theology and mission and end was to know and proclaim the sufficiency of the death of Christ. Apart from the death and resurrection of Christ, sinners remain in their sins, in hostility against God, and under his wrath, and the only end for such a person is death.
Jesus taught many things and performed many wondrous works when he walked the earth. But he did these things in order to communicate the kindness of God and show off the full picture of what comes to the person who receives the benefit of his death and resurrection. The crowds wanted Jesus for his miracles. But Jesus wanted his disciples to know the more important thing. Be sure that when you read the Scriptures, you build the foundation for theology and practice on the death and resurrection of Christ…
