Who Do You Say That I Am?

“Who do people say that I am?”

That was the question he just asked us, only a few seconds ago. We stared at each other wondering (though none of us said it) if he was losing his mind. We weren't even sure if he was speaking to us or lost in a prayer. Sure he was looking directly at us but he had this far off look in his eyes and we just thought he'd spent too much time out in the sun. Then he asked again, “Who do people say that I am?”

I looked around at the other eleven and I prayed that Jesus would not ask me to answer. I looked at him and then looked at the ground and then at the sky, trying desperately to avoid any eye contact. “Some say that you are Moses or Elijah or even John the Baptist come back from the dead,” I heard someone say.

It was Peter.

Oh thank you, sweet mother of Moses for Peter. For he truly is the only one of us brave and dumb enough to answer such a question.

Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Huh, and who do you say that I am?”

Oh don't answer it Peter! At least don't blurt it out! You know how you have a tendency to stick your foot in your mouth. Let the question rest for a second before you...

“You're the Messiah. The Son of God.”

Say something like that.

We all looked at Jesus and then at Peter and back at Jesus, just waiting for a response. Judas whispered, “5 denarii says Jesus rebukes him.”

Then Jesus said, “Hmm...very good. Now don't tell anyone.”

He then began to say to us that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said this very simply and loudly. We were stunned by his words and were not sure what we were supposed to say. Then Peter grabbed him by the arm and took him aside and began to rebuke him.

Peter rebuked Jesus! Seriously! I am not kidding you! The man he just called the Messiah, the Son of God, he rebuked him!

We were stunned at Peter's rebuking of Jesus. Of course we were all thinking it. We were all thinking that the Son of Man is not supposed to suffer or die. He's the Messiah, he's the bringer of God's kingdom. He is supposed to set us free and return Israel to former glories. But we weren't going to tell him that but Peter sure did.

Oh Peter.

Jesus turned and looked at us. He had that look in his eyes. Very similar to the one he had when the Pharisees got onto us for not washing our hands. He looked at Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Get behind me, Satan?

Our mind is not on divine things but on human things?

What do you mean, Jesus?

He called the crowd that had been following us and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?”

The crowd stared at him as words hung in the air. Peter looked down at the ground and we gazed off into space, afraid once more to look Jesus in the eye. And then he said to us, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

He led us on.

And we followed.