Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi. He asked his disciples, «Who do people say the Son of Man is?». They said, «For some of them you are John the Baptist, for others Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets». Jesus asked them, «But you, who do you say I am?». Peter answered, «You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God». Jesus replied, «It is well for you, Simon Barjona, for it is not flesh or blood that has revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. And now I say to you: You are Peter (or Rock) and on this rock I will build my Church; and never will the powers of death overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what you unbind on earth shall be unbound in heaven». Then He ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
From that day Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem; He would suffer many things from the Jewish authorities, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. He would be killed and be raised on the third day. Then Peter took him aside and began to reproach him, «Never, Lord! No, this must never happen to you». But Jesus turned to him and said, «Get behind me, Satan! You would have me stumble. You are their king not as God does, but as people do».
Source: http://evangeli.net/gospel/
Analysis
For technical purposes, there will be no summary, only meaning. First of all, why is it important that Jesus asked the disciples about who they think He is? Because Jesus wishes to see their integrity as a human being, are they independent rational beings capable of making their own rational judgement or do they depend on others to tell them what to think or how to think? Peter managed to prove himself worthy, and we must follow that example, we must be independent and not do things because Jesus or people tell us to, but because it is the truth, the whole truth.
It's ironic that Peter would go on betray Jesus' trust by worrying on material concerns while ignoring the spiritual issues. This made Jesus quite angry and He chastised Peter, calling him Satan even. And then Jesus comments that Peter is thinking what the flesh is thinking, not what God is thinking. This reminds us that there is something greater than our mere desires. The question is, do we wish to accept that fact or will we stay in our fleshy comfort zones? That is all for today, have a nice day and see you tomorrow.
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