Jesus takes his disciples into the region of Caesarea Philippi and asks what people are saying about the identity of the Son of Man.

The disciples report several answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or another prophet.

Jesus then makes the question personal: who do you say that I am?

Peter answers that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Matthew records Jesus blessing Peter and speaking about the rock on which he will build his church and the keys of the kingdom.

Jesus then begins teaching the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and be raised.

Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes him, insisting that such a fate must never happen.

Jesus sharply rejects Peter’s resistance, identifying it as a human way of thinking rather than God’s.

He then tells the disciples that following him involves denying themselves, taking up the cross, and losing life in order to find it.

The scene therefore refuses to separate the title Messiah from the path Jesus says the Messiah must walk.