“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’” - Matthew 16:16 CSB
This passage comes as Jesus has been preaching and teaching all throughout the countryside around Israel and takes a moment with His closest followers, His disciples, to ask them what do the people say about who He is. They give responses pointing to different prophets and men of God from the history of their people, some even point to John the Baptist who we have studied in this series. But Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, gives probably the most profound answer possible when Jesus tells him that He wants to know what the disciples say about who He is. Jesus has been working with these men for some time now and is asking them to identify Him, to really think for a moment about who they believe Him to be. He is looking to see if they get it. This is where we get the response from Simon Peter, his proclamation of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. To this Jesus responds to Simon Peter telling him that he is blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal who Jesus was to him, but instead the Father in heaven. Jesus then shares that on this rock He will build his church. What wonderful news for all of us!
