In 8:27—9:1 the Lord Jesus is recognized as being the Christ. Then He goes on to unveil for the first time His death and resurrection. It is very significant that this unveiling comes immediately after the healing of a blind man in Bethsaida (8:22-26). Before the Lord Jesus unveiled Himself, He healed a blind man. This indicates that in order to see Christ and His death and resurrection, we need to be healed of our blindness.
Although the Lord Jesus healed the blindness of His disciples, they still were not able to see who He was. Neither could they understand His death and resurrection.
If we compare 8:27—9:1 to the parallel section in Matthew 16, we shall see three points of difference. First, in 8:29 Peter says, “You are the Christ!” But in Matthew 16:16 he says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Mark does not include here the matter of Jesus being the Son of the living God. Second, in Matthew 16:18 the Lord Jesus says, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Mark does not record anything about the Lord’s building the church upon this rock. Third, Matthew 16:19 says, “I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on the earth shall be what has been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on the earth shall be what has been loosed in the heavens.” Mark has no record of this. The reason for the differences is that Mark simply gives us a full biography of the Lord. Mark is not concerned with so many doctrinal points.
We have seen that in 8:29 Peter received the revelation that Jesus is the Christ. What is the meaning of the title “the Christ”? What is the significance of this anglicized Greek word? We know that in Greek Christos means the anointed one. According to the types in the Old Testament, a person was always anointed for a particular purpose. What, then, is the purpose of the Lord’s being the Christ, the anointed One? For what purpose was He anointed?
Some may say that the Lord was anointed to accomplish God’s purpose, to be a King, and to be a Priest. When I was young, I was taught by the Brethren that the title Christ means that the Lord Jesus was anointed by God to carry out God’s commission. The Lord was anointed to accomplish God’s purpose and to achieve His goal. This is true, and I certainly believe it. Nevertheless, there is still something lacking in this understanding of the significance of the title Christ.
The Lord Jesus was anointed by God to fulfill God’s commission. A crucial part of this commission is to impart the Triune God into God’s chosen people. Therefore, as the anointed One Christ had the commission to impart the Triune God into His people.
The Gospel of Mark does not emphasize the Lord’s being anointed to be the King, the Priest, or the Prophet. Rather, in this Gospel we see that the Lord Jesus was anointed by God to fulfill the commission to sow God into His people. Hence, the Lord is the Christ, the anointed One to do the work of sowing.
Concerning Christ, the anointed One, Paul says, “But He who firmly attaches us with you unto Christ and has anointed us is God, who has also sealed us and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor. 1:21-22). Here we see that God has attached us all to Christ, the anointed One. Here we do not have any indication that the commission of this anointed One is to be a king or a prophet. The commission of Christ, God’s anointed, is to anoint us with God as the element that seals us with Him and becomes a pledge of God as our portion. This commission is not related to the kingship or the priesthood. This commission is to sow the Triune God into our being and thereby to impart the divine life into us. Have you ever realized that the title Christ is for the carrying out of such a commission?
Probably you have heard the teachings that emphasize the fact that, as God’s anointed One, Christ was anointed to carry out God’s commission, to establish God’s kingdom, and to be a King, a Priest, and a Prophet. Probably you have never heard before that Christ was anointed by God with the particular commission of imparting the divine life to us by sowing Himself into our being. Christ was anointed to sow the Triune God as the seed of life into us. According to the New Testament revelation, this is the first aspect of Christ’s commission, and we all need to see it. The first aspect of the commission Christ received from the Father was not to be a king or a prophet; it was to be a Sower, the One sowing the Triune God into us.
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