When Jesus and his disciples were near the town of Caesarea Philippi, he asked them, "What do people say about the Son of Man?"The disciples answered, "Some people say you are John the Baptist or maybe Elijah or Jeremiah or some other prophet." Then Jesus asked them, "But who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter spoke up, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Jesus told him:
Simon, son of Jonah, you are blessed! You didn't discover this on your own. It was shown to you by my Father in heaven. So I will call you Peter, which means "a rock." On this rock I will build my church, and death itself will not have any power over it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and God in heaven will allow whatever you allow on earth. But he will not allow anything that you don't allow.
Jesus told his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. From then on, Jesus began telling his disciples what would happen to him. He said, "I must go to Jerusalem. There the nation's leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make me suffer terribly. I will be killed, but three days later I will rise to life."
Peter took Jesus aside and told him to stop talking like that. He said, "God would never let this happen to you, Lord!"
Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Satan, get away from me! You're in my way because you think like everyone else and not like God."
8 comments:
So even though Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, he still didn't fully understand that was a Messiah that would suffer. Did he still expect a physical Kingly Messiah at that point?
"So I will call you Peter, which means "a rock." On this rock I will build my church"
The Roman Catholic Church's exegesis of this verse almost makes me feel like a liberal revisionist.
And your point is?
Those who loved the Lord could never understand how He must be treated with such hatred and disrespect.
If I was there then, I'm sure if I saw the Lord being slapped, spit upon, and mocked, I would say, "Lord don't let this men do this to You!"
He would reply, "Get behind me, you are acting like the debil, you are worldly, and don't understand what I am doing, and only I can do. I want to do this for my Father, and for you."
Today, many don't like to teach the propitiation of the suffereing of our Savior and Lord.
Thansk for the good Scripture verse on this the week of Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, the day our Lord rose from the dead!
A friend went to the Holy Land last year. This comment from him seems relevant here ...... I had an epiphany moment today. I always thought it was unusual for the bible to record that Jesus took the disciples to Caesarea Philippi. Today, I learned that it was not a city, but a religious and pagan site in upper Galilee (in modern day Golan Heights) which contained three temples to the gods of Pan, Zeus, and Nemesis. As I listened to our guide explain the significance of the temples and the ruins, as well as the spring which is the actual source of the Jordan River, it hit me. Jesus brought the disciples to Caesarea Philippi because he knew that this was the regional center for pagan worship. So it was here in the backdrop of those temples that he asked the disciples who they thought he was (Matthew 16:1-20). In answer to this question, Peter proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ.
I couldn't stand seeing a Pyro-post without a graphic, so I threw in the blandest one I could find. Hope you don't mind.
I've always been curious about Jesus' request that the disciples refrain from telling anyone that He was the Messiah, at this moment.
Why? I'll check back.
It's not about you, Phil.
:-)
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