Hi I’m Josh Hawkins and this is Episode 82 of Opening Up the Gospels. In the last episode we saw Jesus back in Galilee just briefly where he had another confrontation with Pharisees and Sadducees in Magdala and healed a blind man in Bethsaida. I talked about how Jesus was giving an object lesson to the disciples about their spiritual eyes by laying his hands on the blind man twice and having him only see partially after the first time. They must have learned something from that because of what we’re going to see in this episode. We know that from Bethsaida, Jesus heads north to Caesarea Philippi. But before we continue on in Mark 8, I want to give us some context. Without the context, what Peter says to Jesus in this scene today won’t make nearly as much sense as it should. So let’s rewind a bit and look at our timeline. We’ll go all the way back to episode 72 where we talked about the sending of the Twelve.
Jesus had sent out the Twelve with power and authority to bear witness of who He was and to seek the fruits of repentance from Israel. They come back after being sent out, all excited and ready to tell Jesus what had happened. They get on a boat and head to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee where they are met by the crowds at the shore. That’s when Jesus spends the whole day ministering to them and feeds them from 5 loaves and two fish. But when they try to make Him the ruler by force because He just did some very Moses-like things, He slips away and sends the disciples back to the other side. That evening, He walks on the water, meets His disciples, and then they immediately end up on the other side. He then heals the multitudes in the plain of Gennesaret, and then on the way back to Capernaum he has a controversy with the Pharisees. Remember that? He blows up the scene and comes against them in the strongest of terms. That must have been so hard for the disciples. I don’t think they were ever fully connected to why Jesus was doing what He was doing. It’s like whenever the important people from Jerusalem show up, He makes them really mad.
This is so significant - right there in John 6, they pass a test. Think about how hard that would have been for them. Everybody’s leaving, and there’s the Twelve, with Him again. That was a big deal.
"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?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him."
This well-known confession happened somewhere on the road from Bethsaida to Caesarea Philippi. This journey was about 25-30 miles, and they were probably taking a break by the side of the road somewhere. Luke’s account in Luke 9 adds the detail that Jesus was praying alone, and so we can probably assume the disciples came to Him then. He asks them two important questions. First, “who do men say that I am?” They say that some people think He’s John the Baptist. Why? Perhaps because He preached the same message as John, the call for Israel to repent. Others say that He is one of the prophets. Why? The prophets often delivered difficult messages to Israel, calling them to return to the Lord and be faithful to the covenant they had made with God. Matthew’s account of this scene in Matthew 16 adds that some said He was Jeremiah, who was a severely persecuted prophet in Israel. And still, others said Jesus was Elijah. Why? According to Malachi 4:5, Elijah was supposed to return before the great day of the LORD.
After the disciples finish answering, Jesus asks them who they think He is. And Peter responds with the well-known confession, “you are the Christ”.
Do you see that last phrase? God said about the king of Israel who would come from David's line: "I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me." In other words, the relationship between God and this king from David's line would be like the relationship between a father and a son. Divinity is not in view here, and I don’t think David would have understood it that way. So back to Peter’s confession, that Jesus is “the Christ, the son of the living God”, I think we have a simple parallelism going on here. Jesus is the Christ, the one who has that father/son relationship with God as 2 Samuel said. The other Gospels simply record Peter saying that Jesus is “the Christ”, so I think that’s the primary way we ought to understand what’s going on here.
"Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
This is huge! This God-given confirmation is what leads Jesus to say what He says next. If recent events haven’t challenged the disciples enough, just wait for what Jesus is about to say. We will look at that in the next episode, so be sure to come back next time. In the meantime, you can find all the episodes in this series on my website, www.joshuahawkins.com. God bless.