His Last WeekSample

Before Jesus faced his final days in Jerusalem leading him to the cross, he took his disciples on a last retreat to an area called Caesarea Philippi—the center of where the pagan god of Pan was worshipped. Ancient Greeks believed that Pan lived in caves, connecting with the underworld. When Jesus spoke the words of the reading today he was standing near the cave thought to be the entrance to the underworld—the literal "gates of hell."

Jesus communicated the mission into which he was calling his disciples: no less than a search-and-rescue mission to take people out of the grip of darkness and rescue them from a bleak eternity without God. We were born into a dark eternity, and Jesus was on a mission to change that—an eternal rescue that only the Son of God could accomplish.

Peter saw who Jesus really was, and, when he did, Jesus invited him to join in. He affirmed Peter’s unique place in the mission and handed him the authority to be involved. You have a unique place in this mission as well. You have authority in the Kingdom through Christ Jesus.

Have you seen Jesus as the Messiah who rescues you from darkness? If so then you have received his Holy Spirit and share in the identity and very life of God. You are part of his Body, and his Body is on the same mission Jesus was on—and still is—as in Colossians 1:13 … ”he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”

What is a unique way you could be a part of taking people out of darkness and into the Kingdom of God? Ask him. Jesus is still on that mission today, and you’re invited in.