Mark 8:27-30--Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

Mark 8:27-30
English Standard Version
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Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ
27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

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We're still on the east side of the Sea of Galilee close to the region of Caesarea Philippi.  There are many commentaries that focus much on the region and its pagan worship and the phrase "the gates of hell," but that is not the focus of this passage, so I want to focus on the confession itself here.  Jesus takes a moment after His confrontation with the Pharisees who demanded a sign from Him to stop and ask His disciples, "Who to men say that I am?"

They answered that some say that He is John the Baptist come back from the dead (we know this would be Herod and probably some of his followers).  Others said that Jesus was Elijah (the Jews believed then and still believe today that Elijah will return before Messiah appears. Jesus said in the book of Matthew that John the Baptist was the one who came in the spirit of Elijah).  Others claimed that Jesus was one of the other Old Testament prophets (Jeremiah is specifically mentioned in other gospel accounts).  Jesus must have been a fiery preacher to have been compared to Elijah and Jeremiah, but not one of these comparisons caught Jesus' true identity.  So, Jesus turned to His disciples and asked them directly, "Who do you say that I am?"

Ah, now that is a much more important question.  It matters much less what the world says about Jesus than it matters what each of us individually says about Him, because we must, like Peter, confess that He is the Christ, the Messiah, and the Son of the Living God, and that in Him we have eternal life.  Peter gave an abbreviated version of the story here, and he's not even going to leave the part out where he gets rebuked immediately following this.  Jesus is about to tell us (next time) very plainly who He is and why He has come, but His disciples aren't ready to accept His mission and purpose.  We'll get to that next time.