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!”