What Did Peter Say?
Reading: Mark 8:27-30
“You are the Messiah.”
We remember Peter as the disciple who was very much like us. He often blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. Some of his remarks were troublesome for Jesus. Peter suggested building booths on the Mount of Transfiguration so they could all stay longer. On another occasion, he tried to persuade Jesus not to go to Jerusalem.
This remark came not from “the top of his head,” but from the inspiration of God. Peter recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the one sent from God. It must have been comforting to Jesus to find that he had made an effect on his disciples. If no one had recognized him, his mission would fail.
Why did Jesus order his disciples to keep silent? Perhaps they did not, even yet, understand the work of the Messiah. They still may have expected a political Savior who would free them from Roman oppression. They certainly did not fully understand the coming suffering of Jesus, or the certainly of their own suffering. They did not totally see that Jesus came for love, not hate; forgiveness, not vengeance.
To the confession of Peter given in Mark and Luke, Matthew adds an important phrase: “the Son of the living God.” At least one disciple had begun to see Jesus’ link with God.
For Reflection: What does Christ as Messiah mean to me?
Prayer Seed:
At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow,
Every tongue confess Him King of Glory now;
’Tis the Father’s pleasure we should call Him Lord,
Who from the beginning was the mighty Word.
Caroline Maria Noel, 1870
