Luke 9:18–22
Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”. They answered, “John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.” Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.”
He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
The Gospel of the Lord
REFLECTION
If it was us among that crowd, watching when Jesus was healing the sick, casting out demons and multiplying bread, we too might have thought that here was a prophet. And so, it seems logical that the townspeople who witnessed his miracles thought of Jesus as one. But here’s the strange part— they didn’t just think of him as a prophet, but as a prophet raised from the dead. Somehow, without realizing it, the crowds that followed him seemed to know what Jesus would soon be — a risen prophet.
But this was half-knowledge. So Jesus presses on, asking his apostles, “But who do you say I am?” And Peter too, like the townspeople, says something he only half understands — “The Messiah of God”. Peter knows that Jesus is more than a prophet, he is the Messiah — but does he know what being a Messiah means? Like his fellow Jews, Peter believed that the Messiah would be a king who would rise to political power and deliver the Isrealites from foreign rule.
Jesus is quick to shatter these illusions. “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected”, he says to the apostles. This is no mere prophecy — Jesus is telling them not only what will happen, but also what must; like a prophet he proclaims what will be, but like a king he declares what must be. Jesus was both risen prophet and king, but this would not stop the elders, priests and scribes from rejecting him and his message. For some, even today, it will not matter if Jesus is the Messiah — he is not the messiah they want him to be.
And so, when we choose to acknowledge Christ as our Messiah, let our choice not be based on half-knowledge. Let us understand how we are called to follow our king — not in lording it over others, but in being the servant of all, as he was.
