Jesus is walking along with his disciples one day, and they come into a large town, heavily influenced by Greek thought and the religion and culture of the occupying Roman Empire. Surely they must have come across statues honoring various gods or kings or statesmen, with people paying tribute to them all. I can imagine Jesus walking past one of these statues or shrines and thinking to himself, “Hmm, I wonder how my disciples perceive me?” So, he asks them!
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” he asks. The question is a major one: the Son of Man, in Jewish tradition, was to be the very expression of God’s reign on earth. The disciples point to several historical possibilities. ”Well, SOME people say it was John the Baptist (who had just been killed), but OTHERS believe it was Elijah, one of the greatest prophets, but I’ve also heard people who think it was Jeremiah, who warned the people of God’s coming judgment.” All were surely good answers — each of these people had attracted crowds and followers while declaring the coming of God’s kingdom. But none had brought about the full hope of a covenant people. Every one of them had died without seeing the lasting establishment of God’s peace in the world.
Jesus must have nodded approvingly of their suggestions. Surely there were good Jews who might believe that each one of those men had been the Son of Man. But then, in typical Jesus-fashion, he totally flips the question. He doesn’t ask them, “Do you think that I am the Son of Man?” Instead, he says, “But who do you say that I am?” None of them had proposed that Jesus could be the Son of Man. They could choose a million responses: you are a great rabbi; you are the mighty warrior-king who will topple the Romans; you are our teacher; you are _______. Surely, in the midst of a city filled with statues of great people, they could come up with something.
Peter’s response, then, is a shock: “You are THE Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” That’s quite a powerful claim! Jesus is the One who is to liberate the Jewish people, to usher in the kingdom of God, the One chosen as being the fullest and final expression of God’s desires in the world. As the reader has known all along, this is, indeed, who Jesus is, but the disciples are just now coming around to the idea. For Peter to make this declaration, then, is a major step for him. And, indeed, Jesus praises him for this, in essence validating his profession when Jesus says that it was God who revealed this to Peter.
But then comes another disorienting twist. They can’t tell anybody.
Why?
Why on earth would Jesus want the disciples to keep quiet about this? Now that they’ve figured it out, what reason could there be to tell them not to tell everyone else that Jesus was the Messiah?
Because they don’t fully understand it themselves yet.
You see, in Peter’s mind, he wants Jesus to be like one of those statued-people, or like Elijah or Jeremiah. He wants him to be a great leader, worthy of remembrance and veneration. He wanted Jesus to be the GREAT rabbi, the STRONGEST warrior, the WISEST teacher. But he could not yet imagine Jesus as the suffering servant.
This is why they could not share yet: because the fullness of Jesus’ purpose was not yet completed as he had not yet gone to the cross. His death and resurrection were central to his message, and thus to declare him as the Messiah before these events would be a hollow proclamation. It is in the cross and the empty tomb — God’s validation of Jesus’ teaching and sacrifice — that the real story of ‘Messiah’ finds completion.
So who do WE say that Jesus is? Is he merely another statue that we honor with passing interest? Is he a teacher whom we can choose to listen to as we want, or turn from if we disagree? Is he a warrior, sent to rid us of our problems and declare a new world order? The temptation is to reduce the message of Jesus to a sliver that we are comfortable with. The temptation is to focus on his life and teaching while ignoring the cross and the Risen Lord. What view of Jesus does your life reflect? Have we set someone else — perhaps even ourselves — up as the One we are waiting for? Or do we find in Jesus the witness of God’s love and purpose that is indeed greater than any leader or teacher or ideology? So often we get close, like Peter, in saying the right words about Jesus but failing to align ourselves with the deeper meaning that his life, death and resurrection lay claim to in our lives.
So who is the Jesus we are declaring? A shallow, anemic puppet Jesus who fits our notions and comforts, or the radical vision we see through scripture, tradition and by the witness of the Spirit in our lives, the vision of Jesus as the Ultimate reconciliation through sacrificial love? I don’t want a statue to worship: I want the Living Son of God.
