12:35–37 After responding to his opponents’ questions, Jesus now asks one of his own concerning popular Jewish messianic expectation. In 8:27 Jesus asked his disciples how he was viewed by others and then how they viewed him (8:29). They reply to the latter question that they believed him to be the Messiah (8:29b). The material that follows these questions shows that Jesus wished to correct what he regarded as wrong notions about the Messiah (8:31–33) by affirming the necessity of his suffering and rejection by the Jewish leaders. The transfiguration account (9:2–13) shows that Jesus is not only the Messiah but also the Son of God (9:7), implying a status for Jesus far above popular understanding of the Messiah. The question Jesus asks in 12:35–37 also corrects or supplements contemporary …