To understand the gospel reading for this week we need to put it back in the story. Jesus asks his disciples who people say he is, and then who they say he is. Peter is quick with the messiah.When Peter (in Mark 8:29) names Jesus as the Christ he and his other disciples thought they understood what that meant. But immediately Jesus teaches them about the way of the cross. They way of God was through the cross. And as his disciples then they too must follow this path. And to be honest they don’t get it. And mostly, I am not sure we get it either, 2,000 years later. William Loader [1] says of our gospel reading, “Clearly we are being offered an alternative model of being. It is for our gain, in our interests, to consider it. That is the appeal.… Instead of thinking only of ourselves and believing that it is to our good to gain wealth and avoid any path which leads to suffering, we are being challenged to be generous, giving of ourselves, even when it may mean suffering. The first image ...