“And Jesus came into the quarters of Cesarea Philippi: and he asked his disciples, saying: ‘Whom do men say that the Son of man is?’ But they said: ‘Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets.’ Jesus saith to them: ‘But whom do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said: ‘Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.’”
Jesus then takes the Apostles far out of Jewish territory, that at the true, God-oriented leisure, they may freely speak without fear of what the religious authorities may say. In the comfort of being with loved ones, the heart can unveil more of itself, and Jesus does so here with His closest followers: “A friend if he continue steadfast, shall be to thee as thyself, and shall act with confidence among them of thy household” (Ecclesiasticus 6:11). Jesus then sifts for gold in the hearts of the Apostles, first cleaning out the dirt of common opinion: “If thou shalt seek [wisdom] as money, and shalt dig for her as for a treasure: then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:4-5). Jesus asks a question with much depth, asking who people thought the Son of man is, for those that understood Him to be merely man, were simply men, living as men, whereas the one that understands Him also to be God, is in turn given a participation in God: “I have said: ‘You are gods and all of you the sons of the most High’” (Psalm 81:6), which is to understand, and thereby love like God: “My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). Jesus does not inquire into who the Pharisees thought He was, for they were entirely in error, but who the people thought He was, because they were closer to the truth and walking in mercy and justice rather than malice and ritual observance: “Burn offering and sin offering thou didst not require… In the head of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will” (Psalm 39:7-9), which is the simple commandment to love. His followers give a few answers, that of Herod: “This is John the Baptist: he is risen from the dead” (Matthew 14:2); or, that Elijah had continued alive in the body and returned: “Behold, I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Malachias 4:5); or, that Jeremiah, who was a prophet among the Gentiles: “Lo, I have set thee this day over the nations, and over kingdoms, to root up, and to pull down, and to waste, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant” (Jeremias 1:10), or one of the other prophets, not seeing that all of these figures pointed ahead to the heart’s true desire, which is Jesus. With these opinions laid out, Jesus draws them higher into truth: “Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaias 2:3), asking who they say He is. They were always with Him, fastened to Him, and should therefore be more attuned to Him than those that only experienced Him fleetingly: “And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend” (Exodus 33:11). Additionally, He asks, “Who do you say that I am?,” with an implication that the Apostles had been raised above mere human nature by faith. Now, human nature is something magnificent, a beauty beyond all physical beauties: “Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour: and hast set him over the works of thy hands” (Psalm 8:6-7), but by faith is brought back from the depths of sin, which mires this nature, and set into a place higher than man’s original state: “As all things of his divine power which appertain to life and godliness, are given us, through the knowledge of him who hath called us by his own proper glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3); “He brought me forth into a large place” (Psalm 17:20), which are the plains of truth. Now, Jesus asks this already knowing the answer, but desires to hear them say it, just as one beloved knows that their lover loves them, but desires to hear it often to warm the heart and add kindling to the flame: “Behold all you that kindle a fire, encompassed with flames, walk in the light of your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled” (Isaias 50:11). Having set the common opinion forward, Jesus draws truth from His Apostles: “Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water: but a wise man will draw it out” (Proverbs 20:5), to show that they did not learn about Jesus from what others thought, but from their intimacy with Jesus. Your relationship with Jesus does not come by the reading of many books or the hearing of many lectures, but by time with Him in mental prayer or a loving reading of Sacred Scripture, and doing these things before the Blessed Sacrament allows for an even more beautiful encounter, as He gave you the Eucharist to be able to spend time with you: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8). St. Peter, as the prince, mouth, and head of the Apostles, replies that Jesus, so much more than just being a prophet, is the Christ, the long-desired Messiah: “A star shall rise out of Jacob and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel” (Numbers 24:17); “Make us a king, to judge us” (1 Kings 8:5), but from this step runs eagerly to the next: “Laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run” (Hebrews 12:1); “Draw me: we will run after thee to the odour of thy ointments” (Canticle 1:3), which is to call Jesus the Son of the living God, in opposition to the worship of what isn’t alive: “The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men” (Psalm 113:4), which can include money or celestial bodies, but this can also refer what isn’t life itself, the origin of life: “For with thee is the fountain of life” (Psalm 35:10), such as the worship of demons: “For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens” (Psalm 95:5), or the placing of erotic or other human loves above the love of Love: “He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). Thus, St. Peter grasps Jesus as He is, God made man: “For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace” (Isaias 9:6), and thus affirms that he knows Jesus: “I desire… the knowledge of God more than holocausts” (Osee 6:6), not seeing only the surface from His appearance, but from much time together, hearing His words, seeing what He does, he is able to know the Beloved as He truly is: “As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons” (Canticle 2:3).