But… “who do you say… that I am?”

Canaanite: A people who lived in the land of Canaan before and alongside the
Israelites, the region roughly covering modern day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and parts
of Syria and Jordan. In the Old Testament they represent the nations Israel encountered
when entering the promised land, often associated with different religious practices than
those given to Israel.

Son of God: A title used in Scripture for one who has a unique relationship with God. It
is applied to Israel as a nation, to kings, to angels, and supremely to Jesus, where it
points to his divine sonship and unique identity as God's Son.

Son of Man: A title Jesus uses of himself throughout the Gospels. It draws on Daniel 7,
where "one like a son of man" comes with the clouds of heaven and receives authority
and an everlasting kingdom. It carries both humility, identifying with humanity, and
exaltation, since it points to the coming judge and ruler.

Prophet: One called by God to speak God's word to people, often calling them back to
covenant faithfulness. A prophet may foretell what is to come, but the primary role is
forth telling, declaring God's truth into the present moment, often confronting sin and
injustice.

Caesarea Philippi: A city at the base of Mount Hermon, near a major spring that feeds
the Jordan River. In the ancient world it was a center of pagan worship, associated with
the god Pan and with a shrine to Caesar Augustus built by Herod's son Philip, who
renamed the city after himself and the emperor. It sat at the edge of Gentile territory, far
from Jerusalem religiously and culturally. This is the setting where Jesus asks the
disciples "who do people say that I am" and Peter confesses him as the Christ, the Son
of the living God, in Matthew 16.

See you Sunday,
Pastor Mark