Whether they knew it or not, the disciples were about to begin an intensive seminar on discipleship. It was time for Boot Camp. As Mark implied in his repetitive use of the word, "immediately," there was an urgency about Jesus and he was running out of time before he handed over the reins to the twelve. He needed to know what they understood and what they didn't; how much remediation was this bunch going to require? Were they able to see beneath the signs that he had performed to the deeper, richer message? When he healed the blind did they realize, for instance, that there were different kinds of blindness? Did they understand that they are sometimes blind? It was time to heat things up.

Jesus began by asking an easy question. A safe question. "Who do people say that I am?" (Mark 8:27b).…