Mark 8:27-29 NIV

“Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

Before we examine the details of this conversation, we must understand its setting. “Caesarea Philippi”, is just a name to us but it was of major significance to Jesus and His disciples. This was Israel’s “ red light” district…a place of unimaginable debauchery. At a shrine near the source of the Jordan River, at the base of a massive rock, there was a temple built to Pan, the goat-god who was worshipped by having sex with goats. There were many pagan superstitions surrounding this geographical site, situated near the city of Caesarea, a Roman city dedicated to the worship of Caesar. 

Jesus purposely took His disciples there to illustrate an important truth to them. Using this  offensive site as background, if they really understood who He was, they would believe that faith in Him would change the hearts of the most depraved people from the “yoke” of slavery to sin to the “yoke” of disciples of Jesus. This rock, at the base of which the temple to Pan was built, would become the very place where Jesus would build His church.

To the disciples, this would be a vivid illustration of the power of Jesus’ yoke…His teaching based on who He was. 

So, in the environment of unspeakable evil, Jesus asked…

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

For once, motor-mouth Peter got it right! Always the first to blurt out an answer!  Was Peter speaking for the group or did he, in a flash of inspiration, really understand what he was saying?

First, Jesus’ reply suggested that Peter was sincere in his understanding of His identity, even if he only partially understood the implications. 

We must remember that the disciples shared the common expectation that the Messiah would come to Israel as a conquering king, dispatching the Romans from their land and setting up His kingdom in the pattern of David’s kingdom. 

Shortly before Jesus’s ascension, they still had the same expectation. 

Acts 1:6 NIV

“Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

So, when Peter confessed that Jesus was their Messiah, he was anticipating that Jesus would act like a conquering hero.

The exchange that followed blew that idea out of the water. Jesus was quick to introduce the other side of Messiah’s role, that of the “suffering Servant.” However, whatever Jesus told them at that moment, and repeated many times in the following days, fell on deaf ears. 

Mark 8:31-33 NIV

“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

In one moment, Peter moved from “inspired by God” to “mouthpiece for the devil.”  How could that happen? His limited understanding of Messiah came right out of his mouth. It would take the death and resurrection of Jesus and the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to complete his understanding of who God’s Messiah really was in all His fullness. 

Jesus intended to reveal to His disciples that the power of the Gospel lies, first, in His identity. Every believer must be convinced that He is the Son of God. Believing in Him means that we receive and honour Him as Lord – as Supreme Authority. 

Second, there is no power on earth greater than He…therefore, every demonic power must bow and give way to Him. There is no place or people on earth too evil to be saved by believing in Him as Lord.