Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 286
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IMMERSE
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MESSIAH
8:24–9:1
man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s
eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?”
The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see
them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.”
Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were
opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything
clearly. Jesus sent him away, saying, “Don’t go back into the village on your
way home.”
Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people
say I am?”
“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and
others say you are one of the other prophets.”
Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”
But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many
terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and
the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later
he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his
disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying
such things.
Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter.
“Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a
human point of view, not from God’s.”
Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants
to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and
follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give
up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save
it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own
soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me
and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will
be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with
the holy angels.”
Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, some standing here right now
will not die before they see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!”