Have you ever noticed there are a lot of questions in life? (And I just added one more!)

What did you do on summer vacation? What do you want for breakfast? Did you clean your room? Are you mad at me? Why are you upset? Did you hurt your little brother? Is your homework done? What’s your favorite color? What kind of ice cream do you want? What do you want to be when you grow up? How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? So many questions!

Of all the questions you might ever be asked, this may be the most important one: Who is Jesus?

One time Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people think that I am?”

The disciples gave lots of answers. “Well, some people think you are John the Baptist come back from the dead. Other people think you are another Elijah or Jeremiah. Or they think you might be one of the other prophets.”

Most everyone could see that Jesus was someone special, but they weren’t quite sure which special person he seemed to be or how amazingly special he was.

So Jesus asked another question of the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”

How would you answer that question? Was Jesus just a nice man? Or a good teacher? Or a miracle worker? Or another one of God’s servants like Abraham or Moses or David?

Peter jumped in, like he often did, and spoke up. “You are the Christ! The Messiah! The anointed one! The one we’ve been waiting for! You are the Son of the living God!”

Jesus was very pleased with Peter’s response. “Congratulations, Simon Peter, my Father has given you the right answer!”

Peter had the right words, but he still didn’t understand what they all meant. He thought Jesus was going to be an earthly king. He thought Jesus would make their lives better right away. Peter certainly didn’t think God’s Son was going to die.

Later, Jesus got upset with Peter for thinking that God’s Son could do God’s work without suffering. “Get behind me, Satan,” Jesus said to him. “You are thinking like a man. You are not thinking for God.”

God had shown Peter that Jesus was the Christ. But Peter still needed God’s help to know what sort of Christ Jesus would be. Jesus was a suffering servant. He knew he had to die. That would surprise Peter.

But Jesus also knew he would come back to life. That would be an even better surprise for Peter, and for all of us.