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.” (Mark 8:27-29 ESV)
I absolutely believe that the incident described here is accurately reported by Mark; that it is an actual historical event in which Jesus asked his disciples specific questions about who others and they thought him to be. The context of this passage within the gospel according to Mark is the revelation of Jesus as the Messiah. Within the preceding narrative Jesus himself had deliberately downplayed the messianic nature of his mission. The reader knows from the first verse that Jesus is the son of God (Mk. 1:1) and the demons Jesus’ cast out knew (i.e., Mk 5:7) and there is a hint that those Jesus healed at least had suspicions (because he warns them to tell no one of the miracles he has performed). But the disciples are clueless (Mk. 4:41). Even after Jesus had performed such miracles as calming the storm at sea, walking on water, casting out demons, raising from the dead, performing many healings, and satisfying the hunger of large crowds with almost nothing, the disciples still did not understand (Mk. 8:21). The turning point of Mark’s narrative comes with Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ.
In the narrative Jesus does not dispute what Peter says, but he does warn Peter and the other disciples to say nothing about it. This may seem rather odd to us. One would think that if Jesus’ mission involved rescuing people he would be glad to be correctly identified. But I think he is careful to reveal himself as the messiah because he knows that in general people neither know what they need to be rescued from nor what the cost of being rescued would be. He indicates this in the next few verses after Peter’s confession by describing what his task was to mean for him personally, in the form of suffering, rejection, crucifixion, and resurrection (Mk. 8:31), and then what it would cost those who had been delivered: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mk. 8:34)
There is plenty of evidence to indicate that the messianic expectations of first-century Jews focused on the return of a conquering hero who would rescue the nation from earthly oppressors. The idea that the messiah must suffer and die for the sins of the people was not unknown (Is. 53, Lk. 24:27), but it appears not to have been common. If Jesus had announced himself as the expected Messiah, particularly considering his growing popularity, he risked having his mission mistaken as a political rather than a spiritual one. Thus as soon as it dawned on the disciples who Jesus really was, he started to teach them about what it really meant.
Jesus asks this question of us as well. Who do you say that Jesus is? Everything depends on our answer. You cannot possibly read this account (Mk. 8:31-38) without concluding that Jesus considers both his messianic mission and the cost of discipleship to encompass everything. Mark’s treatment of the disciple’s obtuseness in coming to grips with this fact is instructive for us, demonstrating that Jesus does not expect instant and perfect understanding. But if we are to call ourselves followers of Jesus, we must eventually come to realize it will cost our lives: not just in some metaphysical spiritual way, but our whole lives. Jesus is not some wise and kindly sage who offers tips and insights on how to get along in life; he is in fact the incarnation of God. C.S. Lewis states this masterfully in his book Mere Christianity:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.[1]
To be a follower of Jesus does not mean to have a rich daddy who spoils us, helping us to avoid suffering and making our lives on earth comfortable. Nor does it mean to have a profound teacher of philosophy who gives us insight on how best to conduct ourselves. It means to surrender to his messianic mission. It means, in the end, to give up our entire selves, body and soul; to allow Jesus to live through us (Gal. 2:20). Jesus is either everything or else he is nothing. Who do you say that he is?
[1] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1960), pp. 40-41.
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