The Import of Peter's Confession

It is the middle of a hot sunny afternoon in the far northcountry, far above the Galilee, and you are trailing tiredly behind Jesus with the other disciples. Red and gray rock walls rise up on both sides of the path. Thick foliage comes right down to the edge of where you’re walking. Somewhere, in the unseeable distance, there is the loud sound of a spring flowing. Just a hint of breeze is blowing, up in the treetops. 

For much of the day, Jesus has been walking up at the head of the group, clearly thinking about something which He hasn’t yet revealed to any of you. His eyes are straight forward; his pace quick. 

And it is only after another long while—only when you arrive to a clearing, an upland meadow—that He suddenly turns and faces you with the subject of His rumination: this direct question: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” In essence, He is asking the ultimate secondary question—the penultimate consideration for every human heart: What does humanity think of Me?

There is a murmuring amidst you Twelve, standing around Him. Someone finally speaks up with a safe, soft answer: “Well, some say John the Baptist. Some say Elijah, others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” In other words, there is a great disparity of opinion about you, Jesus. Some say this; others say that.

Imagine the look in the eyes of Jesus that ensues—a fascinating blend of both immense humility and almighty divinity—as He leans closer and asks, “But what about YOU? Who do YOU say that I am?” 

I believe it's no overstatement to say that, every moment of every day since the Incarnation, this has been the operative, the ultimate question begged of every human heart. Not for others, but for YOU, what is the definition of this Man? 

We know what Peter then says. But what do YOU, everyday, say with the reality of your life?

What follows directly after, in Matthew's account, is a particular statement made to the particular disciple, Simon-called-Peter, and yet those next words of Jesus have a universal, even totalizing meaning for all who would believe. Standing there, on a path in the sunshine in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus is speaking to us even as He’s speaking the following to Peter:

• To believe in Jesus is the highest action available to the human heart.
• And, to so believe is the revelatory work of the Living God within that heart.
• We become the highest version of ourselves within that belief.
• We also attain to our highest usefulness to God as we surrender to His Way.
• Nothing can stop the inward life of the life of believing.
• Anything, in Heaven and on earth, is possible through belief in this Jesus.