1The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2But he answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3In the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can’t discern the signs of the times! 4An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”
He left them and departed. 5The disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread. 6Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7They reasoned among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.”
8Jesus, perceiving it, said, “Why do you reason among yourselves, you of little faith, because you have brought no bread? 9Don’t you yet perceive or remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up, 10or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up? 11How is it that you don’t perceive that I didn’t speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12Then they understood that he didn’t tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.” 20Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.
21From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life? 27For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds. 28Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
Who was this Jesus who died on a cross? Who was He really? It is quite easy for a thinking person to accept that there is a God in the world who made all that we see. There are four main arguments proffered by many that make believing in God the most logical outcome for the human mind contemplating such things. I recently attended the Passion conference with the young adults from our church. We heard Cliff Knechtle, a well known apologist, argue that we can look around us and see that something or someone, a divine architect, must exist to have created the complexities we see in the world around us. There is an order and design of the cosmos that demonstrates an intelligent mind behind all things. He further argued that there is a moral sense embedded in every human heart that recognizes injustice and wrongdoing. Concepts like “should” and other normative behavior dictate such an originator. Thirdly, the fact that we were made to love and be loved makes no evolutionary sense. We have affections and heart attitudes that mirror divine attitudes. And lastly, we have life, which comes with purpose. The argument is essentially that life comes from life. Life does not arise from non-life. There must be an origin of life itself. David summarizes this in saying, “The fool has said in his heart, 'there is no God.” (Psalms 14:1 WEB)
For me, the leap to believing in Jesus as the promised Messiah to save the world is bridged by the fulfillment of a multitude of specific prophecies. Many of those are in the lines of this chapter. John lists them with specificity. What happened to Jesus during his trial and crucifixion is described in detail in Psalms 22. My father used to attend services at a Jewish synagogue on occasion, and he told me that services would sometimes begin with everyone reading a passage in the Bible in silence before the rabbi spoke. Father told me that Jesus was no doubt reciting Psalms 22 in His mind on the cross, and it detailed His plight. This was written 1000 years before Jesus was born. Some of the connections include: Psalms 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Psalms 22:7-8 describes the mocking that took place. “All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. ‘He trusts the Lord, they say, ‘let the Lord rescue Him.” Then Psalms 22:16, 17, and 18 predict: “They pierce my hands and my feet.’ “I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” The parallels are undeniable. What in the world was the Poet King David writing? How did any of this ever enter his mind?
And last but not least, the most beautiful words in the Bible were long foretold in this Psalm. From the cross, Jesus uttered the words “IT IS FINISHED.” This means it is done. The last line of Psalms 22 declares just that, “31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, for he has done it.” And dear reader, with those words, deep anguish ended, and triumph began. It all began with Jesus, and it all ends with Jesus. Yes, there is so much evidence that Peter’s confession is true. “16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16 WEB) Do you hold fast to that confession as well?