Mark 8:27-30 (NRSV)
Read Mark 8:27-30 on biblegateway.com
Devotion
Confession, it is said, is good for the soul. If so, then Peter had a good day when he correctly confessed that Jesus was the Messiah. Of course, Peter did not have such a good day when he later rebuked Jesus for declaring that he, the Son of Man, would undergo great suffering, rejection, death and (not incidentally) resurrection. If we were asked to declare who Jesus was, it is fair to hope that we would get it right too. And we would prefer not to stumble as Peter later did. Confessing Jesus as the suffering Messiah is right, but not as easy as it sounds. The world is full of temptations, and we are not as strong as we might wish. Still, we live with Jesus’ question and pray that we might make a good confession, always asking God to bless our journey.
Prayer
Lord God, we know that salvation is not a matter of getting the correct answer on some kind of cosmic quiz. Even so, may we rightly declare that your son came to die so that we might have life; and in that confession may we confidently walk the road of faith. Amen.