Peter’s declaration about Jesus (Mark 8: 27–33)
This event revealed Jesus as the promised MessiahThe word means ‘the anointed one’. The Messiah is the one believed to be sent by God to be humanity’s saviour. Many Christians believe this person to be Jesus..
The story is a conversation between Jesus and his disciples in which he openly questions them about his identity.
We can see the Jewish people thought that Jesus was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or another prophet.
Peter, Jesus' closest disciple, was the one to speak up when directly asked “Who do you say that I am?” Peter’s response shows a clear knowledge of Jesus’ identity, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus then ordered the disciples not to tell anyone about what happened. This is an example of the messianic secretJesus wanted his identity as Messiah kept secret until the end of his ministry as he knew that it would cause controversy with the religious leaders. Also, the Jewish people expected a political Messiah who would fight to get rid of Roman occupation, instead Jesus was a peaceful Messiah. .
This is the first time in Mark’s Gospel that Jesus speaks to the disciples about his suffering, death and resurrectionThe rising of Christ from the dead, three days after the crucifixion..
Peter plays a key role in this story. We know that he became the first Pope, so this event would have given Jesus confidence that Peter was following him for the right reasons.
However, Peter did not understand that the Messiah must suffer and he took Jesus to the side and challenged him.
Peter, like most Jews, thought of the Messiah as a victorious king who would save Israel from the Romans, not someone who would be rejected and die a criminal’s death.
Jesus’ calls Peter ٲٲ” as he is angry that Peter is trying to prevent God’s plan.