This coming Sunday, the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, is taken from Mark 8:27-35. As the storyline reaches Caesarea Philippi, we arrive at the first major climax of Mark’s Gospel – the second being the Passion and Crucifixion. Until now, Mark has been revealing who Jesus is in the mighty deeds he has done. Along with this revelation, Mark has also reported Jesus’ reluctance to have people believe in him only because of those wondrous deeds. This Caesarea Philippi passage comes to the heart of the matter. Jesus now says explicitly that his way is a way of suffering. The way of the Messiah is the way of the cross: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (8:34) – that is perhaps getting ahead of ourselves.

27 Now Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Messiah.”

Earlier in the gospel (6:14-16), we hear a prelude to the question of Jesus’ identity as Herod speculates that he is John the Baptist coming back from the grave. Now Jesus asks the disciples what is the “buzz” among the people; what are they saying about Jesus’ identity. Herod’s guess continues to float, to which is added other prophets – one might well conclude at least the word of the street acknowledges Jesus as sent from God. Jesus then puts the same question to the disciples. Peter replies, “the Messiah” (v. 29). This confession is the first correct human statement about Jesus’ identity in the Gospel. Human witness now replaces the shouted confessions of demons that Jesus had to silence.

But what was the content of the confession? It is easy for 20th century believers to think, “Well, there it is. Peter and the apostles finally get it!” But we must remember that we just encountered a miracle of Jesus healing a blind person – and it did not happen all at once – the sight unfolded in stages. Perhaps, this confession of Peter will also unfold in stages.

Recall that the word the messiah literally means “the anointed one;” the people have already noted that Jesus is anointed in the role of prophet – and they know that in the OT anointing represents God’s affirmation that the prophet, priest, or king is the divinely chosen leader of the people. There have been many who have been anointed for leadership – and that includes Cyrus, the king of Persia, who returns captive Israel from Babylon to Jerusalem. He is called “Messiah.” Even if we assume Peter and the apostles hold that Jesus will play a unique role in salvation history, what follows these verses makes it clear that they do not understand the fullness of the confession – and so are partially blind even in their moment of witness and confession. But things will unfold.

30Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. 31 He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. 32 He spoke this openly…

The Greek epitimaō (warn) is a strong word; hardly one of praise and affirmation. Pheme Perkins [623] has a great insight on what is unfolding: “Readers might expect a word of praise for the confession, since it demonstrates that the disciples are superior to the crowds in their understanding of who Jesus is. Instead, the command to tell no one is introduced with the verb for “rebuke” (ἐπιτιμάω epitimaō), the same verb Mark uses to describe Jesus’ response when the demons acknowledge him as Son of God (3:12). Thus the rebuke does not impugn the correctness of the title being used. The problem with the confession is the inappropriateness of the time (prior to the passion), the context (exorcism and healing miracles), or the witnesses (spoken by demons). Since the episodes surrounding the two affirmations of Jesus’ identity in this section demonstrate that the disciples do not understand that suffering lies at the heart of Jesus’ mission, they are no more able to use the titles “Messiah” and “Son of God” correctly than the demons are. Jesus will accept both titles publicly during his interrogation by the Sanhedrin (Mark 14:62).”

As Perkins notes; it is not that Peter got it wrong, but given that he does not understand and he will strongly resist the idea of a suffering Messiah. To that extent he does not understand the unique role Jesus will play in salvation history.

Image credit: Christ Presenting the Keys to Saint Peter | Nicholas Poussin | Metropolitan Museum | Public Domain