Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? Or what can you give in exchange for your soul? If any of you are ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

—Mark 8:27-38 (TNIV)

In today’s passage Jesus asks his disciples (and us) the great existential question: “Who do you say that I am?” Willingly or not, we all will have to answer that question sooner or later, and how we answer is literally a matter of life and death. To be certain, there has been great confusion about Jesus. Some think Jesus was a great teacher and nothing more. Some see him as a great leader. Others see him as God. Some see him as a lunatic. Some do not believe in him at all. Some even doubt his historical existence (we humans really do love deluding ourselves, don’t we?).

From this story we can conclude that there always has been some confusion about who Jesus is. Peter initially gets it right when he confesses Jesus as Messiah, God’s Anointed One, but then tries to apply his own preconceived notion about what Messiah should be like. Typically, most first century Jews would have seen Messiah as a geat King or military conquorer who would come and liberate Israel from its political oppression.

But Jesus would not allow himself to be defined by others or their expectations for him. He would only answer to the Father who sent him. When Jesus rebuked Peter for his surely well-intentioned response to Jesus’ passion prediction, Jesus realized that it was Satan behind it, trying to prevent him from fulfilling God’s plan of salvation through the cross.

This is who Jesus is. He is our crucified Lord and Savior. He is the manifestation of God’s wisdom, a wisdom that is foolishness to the world (see, e.g., 1 Corinthians 1:18-31). He embodies God’s holy wrath and love for us. He invites us into a life-giving and life-saving relationship with him.

During this season of Lent, spend some time answering his question to you: “Who do you say that I am?” Ask him about this in prayer. Read the NT story about him so that you can get to know him better. Gather together and learn about him together. Invite your friends who do not know Jesus at all to join you. Like any relationship, the more we get to know a person, the better we are able to recognize that person for who he really is.

Then ask the Lord to show you the desperateness of your situation without him and be thankful when he does. For you see, until you realize the dire straights you are in without faith in Christ, you never will really see the point of his cross. But once you fully understand the bad news of the human condition, you will be ready to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ, and like the very first Christians you will be able to say to him, “I know you, Jesus. You are Lord!”

When your enemies come to you and ask your pardon for the evil they have done to you, you must forgive them immediately. If you don’t then you are not merely erasing the Lord’s Prayer from your heart (where you say “forgive us as we forgive”); you are erasing yourself from God’s book.

—Augustine, Sermon 56

But suppose you [ask], do good designs and good intentions make a Christian? By no means, unless they are brought to good effect. “Hell is paved,” says one, “with good intentions.” The great question of all, then, still remains: Is the love of God poured out in your heart? Can you cry out, “My God and my All?” Do you desire nothing else but him? Are you happy in God? Is he your glory, your delight, your crown of rejoicing? And is this commandment written in your heart, “That he who loves God loves his brother also?” Do you then love your neighbor as yourself? Do you love every man, even your enemies, even the enemies of God, as your own soul? As Christ loved you? Do you believe that Christ loved you, and gave himself for you? Do you have faith in his blood? Do you believe the Lamb of God has taken away your sins, and cast them as a stone into the depth of the sea? That he has blotted out the handwriting [in God’s book of life] that was against you, taking it out of the way, nailing it to his cross? Do you have redemption through his blood, even the remission of your sins? And does his Spirit say to your spirit, that  you are a child of God?

—John Wesley, Sermon 2, The Almost Christian, 5.24

O God, our Father, we know that the issues of life and death are in your hands, and we know that you are loving us with an everlasting love. If it is your will, grant to us to live in happiness and in peace.

In all our undertakings, grant us prosperity and good success.
In all our friendships, grant us to find our friends faithful and true.
In all bodily things, make us fit and healthy.
In all the things of the mind, make us calm and serene, free from anxiety and worry.
In material things, save us from poverty and from want.
In spiritual things, save us from doubt and from distrust.

Grant us in our work satisfaction;
In our study true wisdom;
in our pleasure goodness;
In our love loyalty.

And if misfortune does come to us, grant that any trial may only bring us closer to one another and closer to you; and grant that nothing may shake our certainty that you work all things together for good, and that a Father’s hand will never cause his child a needless tear. Hear this our prayer; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

—Prayers for the Christian Year