A man from the U.S. was on his first trip to Australia. He summoned a taxi at the airport. He was shocked when the taxi driver asked him in a strong Australian accent, “Did you come here to die?”

This was unexpected and disturbing a cabbie asking him, “Did you come here to die?”

What kind of ride was he in for? The man wondered. He said, “Excuse me?”

The cabbie elaborated, “Did you come here to die, or yester-die?”

In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus is breaking it to his disciples that he has come to die and he’s not speaking with an Australian accent. It’s one of the most famous passages in the Word. Jesus and his disciples are in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi when Jesus asks them, “Who do people say I am?”

They reply, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, …