Then Jesus went with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
This verse carries our mind to one of the Gospel’s important turning points. Christ asks not in order to gain information, but to prepare the disciples’ minds for a deeper knowledge. First He asks what people are saying, because the disciples must see the diversity and insufficiency of human opinions. Human judgment can be respectful toward Christ and still remain far from true knowledge. The region of Caesarea Philippi, with its pagan and diverse religious setting, becomes the place where the need for true knowledge of Christ is emphasized even more. The question asked on the road is also symbolic: the disciples were physically on the road with Christ, but now they also had to move forward on the spiritual road into the true knowledge of His person. The question given in this verse is also directed to everyone, asking: is one’s knowledge of Christ shaped by people’s opinions, or does it flow from a personal encounter and divine revelation?