rth. Everyone
thinks that you are a great man."

[Illustration]

"But who do _you_ say that I am?" Jesus asked.

There was silence. Then Simon spoke up: "You are the Messiah--the
Christ--the Son of the living God!"

That was it! That was what Jesus was waiting for! His face lighted up
in joy. He turned to Simon, and exclaimed: "That is the best thing
that could happen to you, Simon, to find out who I am! And no human
being could have told you! Only God himself can have shown you that I
really am the Messiah, when nobody else believes it. And now you are
going to have a new name, Simon. I am going to call you 'Peter' from
now on, for the name 'Peter' means 'The Rock.' You have faith in me,
and your faith is like a rock. I am going to build my Church on faith
like yours, and nothing shall ever conquer it. It will be the
strongest thing in all the world.

"And now"--Jesus began to speak more quietly--"and now that you know
who I really am, I have many things to tell you. In the first place,
you must not say anything about my being the Messiah--not just yet.
And this is more important: I am not going to be very popular any
more. I am going up to Jerusalem, and when I get there, my enemies
will plot against me and put me to death."

Peter thought that this was nonsense. Everyone knew that the Messiah
would not be killed like that, but would instead be a great warrior
and a triumphant king. In a bold voice Peter spoke up again: "Don't be
foolish. Nothing of that sort is going to happen!"

Jesus turned on Peter. This time he was not joyful; he was angry. He
talked to Peter in the same way he had once talked to the devil in the
wilderness.

He said: "Get behind me, Satan! The devil has got into you, Peter! God
didn't have anything to do with what you said to me just now. You're
talking like everybody else. You're weak. A man who tries to save his
own life is sure to lose it. But if a man gives up his life because of
me--ah, that man will really know what it means to live!"

But Jesus saw that the disciples did not understand. Even Peter was
losing his faith again. Somehow he must make them believe in him and
trust in him.

So six days later he took Peter and James and John, to whom he showed
the most secret things, up into a high mountain. And there the
disciples saw a marvelous vision. Jesus' face became bright as the
sun, and his clothes shone like the morning light. They said afterward
that Moses and Elijah, wh