“Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah;
still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”
It was clear what the crowds thought. The disciples and Herod both represented popular opinion in the same way. But even Herod had a sense that this popular impression was insufficient although he himself never sought sincerely enough to find the true answer.
Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
The disciples were aware that Jesus was someone greater than John the Baptist, someone whose sandals John was not worthy to untie. They had heard him speak with an authority with which no one else ever spoke. They saw mighty deeds that were greater than those of Elijah or one of the prophets. But as to who he was, if not one among those options, they were left to wonder. Jesus himself did not simply spell it out and shut the mouths of demons who were too free in identifying him. The truth of Jesus's identity was not merely data, not merely words that could be recited as the correct answer. To that end Jesus tried to shield people from a premature and superficial knowledge of who he was.
He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
His disciples were not to answer on the basis of what they had heard. In their every moment with Jesus they were potentially receiving the revelation from the Father in heaven about the identity of his Son. In everything Jesus said and did the Holy Spirit was present and potentially opening them to the mystery. If they were to ignore that process because they decided they already had the answer, even a correct one, that Jesus was the Messiah, they would be prevented from going deeper in the way that Jesus intended.
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”
Peter did not answer on the basis of what flesh and blood had revealed, neither his own, nor that of the disciples, nor the crowds. It was rather the Father of Jesus in heaven that revealed that Jesus was his anointed Son (see Matthew 16:17). The dynamic of this true revelation could only be brought about in this Trinitarian fashion. The Father drew people to the Son even as the Son revealed the Father. This was a manifestation of the love between them, the love who is the Holy Spirit.
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him (see Ephesians 1:17).
We know that shortly after making the good confession of his faith Peter fumbled when he was forced to reckon with the plan of Jesus to undergo suffering and death. He couldn't even hear that sentence clearly enough to take much comfort from the incomprehensible idea of a resurrection on the third day. Peter was mistaken in his response in spite of the revelation that had just preceded it. The purpose of that revelation at that moment was no doubt to give him the strength to grapple with the difficult news that followed. And even if he didn't immediately succeed it was a part of the long-term plan of Jesus for Peter, by which he was planting in him a knowledge and a trust of who he was that was deeper than any mistake Peter could ever make.
For Peter too there was an appointed time for everything, even for mistakes and learning the hard way. But none of it was without purpose, though humanly it would look like there was no advantage to the worker for such toil.
He has made everything appropriate to its time,
and has put the timeless into their hearts,
without man’s ever discovering,
from beginning to end, the work which God has done.
Man indeed can never discover this eternity that God has hidden in his heart. But the purpose of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is to reveal it to us, to show us the deepest places within us, that only they can fulfill.
Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
my mercy and my fortress,
my stronghold, my deliverer,
My shield, in whom I trust.
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