"... On this rock I will build ..." - Matthew 16:18

The disciples of Jesus had been with him for quite a long time, a couple of years probably. Then one day he asked them, "Who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15). I doubt if he asked that question because he was concerned about his reputation. He asked it, I rather think, because he was concerned about his disciples.

He had come into the world as the Savior, the Messiah, and he knew this. Nothing the disciples could say, nothing the whole world could say, could ever change this fact. His role among humanity would not be altered by any opinion poll; his saviorhood, his messiahship, did not depend upon a vote - a vote of his disciples, or of anyone else.

It is apparent, however, that who his disciples believed him to be was a matter of…