NOTES for Mat 16:1-28
Faith is one of the most mysterious things in the world. What gives rise in a person to the readiness to address a man named Jesus clearly and unambiguously and say to Him, “You are the Christ”—that is, the Anointed One, the King for whom all the nations of the earth wait in hope? In the case of Jesus’ contemporaries and compatriots, this can perhaps be explained by their conception of the Messiah as a national liberating hero. But how can it be explained now, when everyone knows that Jesus’ activity resulted in His execution? Today, merely acknowledging the possibility of addressing Him requires a person to hold certain unconventional assumptions about reality. These questions remain unanswered in the Gospel. Or rather, they have no human answer: “flesh and blood,” that is, a person unaided, has no reason to utter these words. This is a mystery. It is the work within a person of the Heavenly Father, who draws that person to His only-begotten Son...