Matthew 16:13-17

Jesus is the Christ, the anointed One, the Son of the living God!

We cannot rely on traditions, positions of authority or any form of our own righteousness in response to God's invitation to follow His Son. We don't enter God's Kingdom through our own striving but by a change of mind where we turn from our own sources of "truth" to believe in Jesus.

Not all sources can be trusted. But Jesus' teaching that sinners who believe in Him will be saved, though "religious" people who resist God's Messiah will not be saved, rings true through a gospel lens. First5 

When I savor, grace comes to life.

Grace allows us to risk loving, to be unafraid of a life that can be messy.
To make a space for something less than perfect in ourselves and in one another.

To offer kindness and compassion. In a glance, in a word, in a touch.
To create spaces, sanctuaries, where healing and hope are offered.
To believe in goodness after harm. And to know that this light and love will always spill to the world around us. Sabbath Moments 

Matthew 16:13-17

13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. The New King James Version

Here, Jesus asks the question in a general sense. Later He identifies Himself as the Son of Man. 

Jesus’ ministry closely reflects Elijah’s. Jesus refers to John the Baptist as Elijah. Here, Matthew indicates that some believe Jesus to be Elijah—a legitimate claim given the similarities between their ministries. However, the significance of this comparison is eschatological. 

The Greek word used here, christos, meaning “Christ,” “Messiah,” or “anointed one,” is equivalent to the Hebrew, mashiach, which primarily describes kings in the old testament. Faithlife Study Bible

Caesarea Philippi was located north of the Sea of Galilee, at the base of the southwest slope of Mt. Hermon. The place had long been associated with idol worship. Who do men say that I … am: In the face of the surrounding idols, Christ led His disciples into a proclamation of His deity by first soliciting from them what other people said. In the end, however, what mattered was the apostles’ own beliefs concerning Jesus. 

The Spirit of grace revealed to Peter the true identity of the Lord Jesus. Son of the living God refers to Jesus’ deity. Several factors point to this conclusion: (1) He was born of a virgin (2) He was called Immanuel, meaning “God with us” (3) the title in Greek is emphatic: “the Son of the God, the living One”; and (4) later passages describe Christ as God.

People do not come to faith in Jesus Christ by scrutiny or searching, but by the Father’s revelation of the Son to them. The NKJV Study Bible

Matthew 14:2 | and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.”

Mark 6:15 | Others said, “It is Elijah.”And others said, “It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets.”

Mark 8:27 | Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?”

Luke 9:8 | and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.

Galatians 1:16 | to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,