There is something about the notion of mistaken identity...
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There is something about the notion of mistaken identity that captures the imagination, especially in literature. Consider how many novels and plays deal with this concept: the identity confusion in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, the twins in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors or in Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson, or the mistaken identity in Twain's The Prince and the Pauper and Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, and so on. Establishing one's true identity is apparently a source of great drama, comedy, and even tragedy.
This passage gives us a glimpse into another case of mistaken identity. Jesus asked his disciples who the crowds were saying he was. Many answers came back, including John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the other prophets come back from the dead (v. 14). It took Peter's declaration to shed light on Jesus' true identity as the Messiah. However, the events that followed would show that this case of mistaken identity, one in which the world couldn't see who Jesus really was, would prove to be the most tragic, and the most glorious, in all of history.
This passage gives us a glimpse into another case of mistaken identity. Jesus asked his disciples who the crowds were saying he was. Many answers came back, including John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the other prophets come back from the dead (v. 14). It took Peter's declaration to shed light on Jesus' true identity as the Messiah. However, the events that followed would show that this case of mistaken identity, one in which the world couldn't see who Jesus really was, would prove to be the most tragic, and the most glorious, in all of history.
