Home > Jesus is God in Mark's Gospel
This is also mentioned in Matthew 16:21–23 and Luke 9:22. Immediately after the confession, Jesus begins to teach that the Son of Man must suffer.
Mark 8:31–33 - 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. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
"must" (Dei) - Jesus uses the Greek word dei, which refers to "divine necessity." It i not blind fate.
Jesus is not a victim of circumstance. He is the Sovereign Lord who has pre-ordained His own sacrifice. His divinity is seen in His total knowledge of the future and His voluntary submission to a path that only God-in-the-flesh could endure to save humanity.
Rebuking Satan - When Peter tries to stop Him, Jesus identifies Peter’s words as coming from Satan. This reinforces the "Strong Man" theme from Mark 3: Jesus is the Divine Warrior who knows that His victory over the demonic requires His own death.
Mark 8 destroys the "Liberal Jesus" who is merely a moral teacher. If Jesus is the one who can create bread for thousands and knows the exact details of His own death and resurrection, He is either the Incarnate God or a dangerous lunatic. There is no middle ground.