NOTES for Mar 8:27-9:1
If we are bound to Christ by faith and love - and all His disciples are called to this - then the question, "Who do you say that I am?" in a certain sense means, "Who do you say that you are?" For as Jesus is, so His disciples must be; Christians are named from Christ. And here lies our saddest gap between theory and practice. We believe that He was incarnate and became Man for our sake, while we ourselves cannot and do not want to draw nearer to those whom we call our "neighbors." We say that He died on the cross for the sins of humanity, while we ourselves "do not want to lift a finger" for much more modest goals. We teach that He rose from the dead, but we continue to live an old, unenlightened, unresurrected life. Yes indeed, for such Christianity one could well earn the name "apostate," "Satan." Following the example of the apostles, it is time for us, most of whom consider our faith the most correct, to begin bringing our life into conformity with our faith.