Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”~Mark 8:27-33
Peter saw who Jesus was...
Until he didn't.
Who Jesus was didn't line up with what Peter expected him to be like or to do or to behave.
Who Jesus was to Peter surely couldn't be someone who would willingly die!?!
Have you ever met someone and been impressed by them and then something they did didn't meet your expectations and you decided they weren't who you thought they were?
Did someone disappoint you and shatter your illusions about who they were?
Or were you right about them to begin with despite your disappointment? Did that disappointment really take away who they were at their core?
Did you illusions need to be shattered?
Sometimes those who have our best interests at heart don't come in expected packages. Sometimes the epiphanies we have about them appear to be shattered if they don't look or behave the way we think they should.
Jesus didn't change who he was. Peter saw only the image of what he thought Jesus was until eventually he would understand the truth.
Eventually Peter got it. Eventually his illusions were shattered and he was exactly who Jesus was.
Eventually he not only accepted it, but spent the rest of his life letting others know who Jesus was as well.
Shatter my illusions, Holy One, so that I may see you as you really are. Amen
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