Peter Confesses Jesus as Christ
18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Observations and Reflections
Up until this point, Jesus had performed many miracles. He has healed the sick, driven out demons, taught them many lessons on what it means to be a follower of Christ, raised the dead, calmed a storm, feed five thousand people with very little food and in doing so had offered a sense of hope and peace that was missing from the lives of those whom He came in contact with.
Yet, despite all of these things, all those around Him were unsure of who Jesus really was. The disciples answer the question of whom they thought or were guessing Jesus to be. To them He was somehow another form of John the baptist, Elijah or a prophet who was once dead but came back to life.
All this time He has been setting up the scene in order for the world to be ready to know exactly who He is and what He came to do. Peter, as we will find out later on, being known was the disciple that often spoke out irrationally, was the one who was able to identify that Jesus is the son of God.
Jesus was not ready to reveal to the world who He really was just yet. There was still important work to be done and the timing was not part of His master plan. The moment that Jesus reveals who He is will also be the moment that the world scorns and rejects Him. However, it was important for His disciples to know who He was in order so that He could prepare them for what was to come.
Jesus had also been working to prepare His disciples to eventually take over the work that He started. Their hearts had to be ready to take on His death, resurrection and His ministry. It is by the Grace of God that Peter was able to reveal who Jesus was and that now Jesus is able to start working on the hearts of the disciples for true ministry.
As Christians, we now know who Jesus is and what the Gospel stands for. We ought to desire to want to know Him more and more each day and have a hear to spread what we know and learn about Christ to the world around us.
[Featured image a 1492 painting titled, “Christ Handing the Keys to St. Peter”, by Pietro Perugino]