“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’”
Caesarea. The city was first known by the name Panion, meaning ‘sanctuary of Pan,’ a pagan god associated with fields and herds. A son of Herod the Great, Philip, took control of that area after his father’s death. Philip constructed an administrative capitol building at Panion and changed the name to Caesarea Philippi, honoring both Caesar and himself. There is no record of civilian habitation at the time, so Caesarea Philippi was an administrative center and not yet a city during Jesus’ lifetime. The gospel writers observe that fact, recording that Jesus and the disciples frequented the villages or the region of Caesarea Philippi. Not until A.D. 54 was the administrative center transformed into a Greco-Roman city. In A.D. 70 the city was noted for savagery. The Roman general Titus, after destroying Jerusalem, brought a large number of Jewish prisoners to Caesarea Philippi, where they were massacred in games as a public spectacle.
So, in that region, Jesus asked the question. Not the question of an uncertain public figure taking an opinion poll. Rather, a test. After all the miracles of healing, of mastery over nature, of authoritative teaching…are they finally getting it?
Public opinion was divided. It still is. Publicly they thought of Jesus as a prophet, a speaker of God. Publicly we still say Jesus was an interesting historical figure, a great teacher. But history has given us many great teachers, and this text shows that contemporaries of Jesus parted company with him because of his ‘hard’ teachings. His popularity was on the wane.
“’Well,’ they replied, ‘some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and other say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.’ Then he asked them, ‘But who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’”
What was unclear to the public was crystal clear to Peter. Peter caught the point…Jesus is the Christ—the Messiah—the anointed of God, not the anointed of man. He does not come to conform to our expectations, but to conform us to the mandate of God. He does not require theological discussion, but obedience. How we each answer his question will define the core values of our life.
That truth was brought into the light during a pre-marital counseling session I held years ago. The young woman was concerned about their future together because she was a Christian and he was not. He couldn’t catch the importance of her concern. If I can remember clearly, he said something like, “I think that Jesus was a really terrific guy, a good model to follow, probably had a direct line to God if there is a God.” They couldn’t come to a meeting point. Finally I asked them, “What stands at the center of your life?” She? It was God. Him? “In the final analysis, I have to do what makes me happy. So what’s the difference?” She answered him beautifully: “It means that if God’s at my center, nothing else can be there; not me and not even you. It means that I will measure and define everything else by that center.” I do not remember if they ever actually got married.
This is not a difficult scripture to catch the point of. It is a difficult scripture to live out. American Christians today are struggling mightily with this very issue. So ask yourself…who or what stands at the very center of your life? At some point in the spiritual journey of each of us we have to answer the question of who he is…not just when we become a Christian, but when we become Christian.
Prayer: “I know, Jesus, that you are the King of Glory. I applaud you for your life as one of us, but I hold you at my center for the hope of heaven. Creator of my soul, only you can make it whole, happy, and full. You are my center, around which all my life orbits. When I forget that, I pray that you will bring me back to balance, so that I might live my days in your pleasure. Amen.”