Nevertheless, he added, “I assure you, among those standing here there are some who will not experience death before they see the Son of Man come in his kingship.” To make it clear, he continued: “If a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and begin to follow in my footsteps.” Having recognized Jesus’ divinity, Peter could not accept his humanity, and Jesus rebuked him: “You are judging not by God’s standards but by man’s.” Peter, “illumined with light from above” and excited by Jesus’ commendation, said, “May you be spared, Master! God forbid that any such thing ever happen to you!”

Immediately, however, Jesus began to tell them that he must “go to Jerusalem,” “suffer greatly there,” and “be put to death, and raised up on the third day.” However, it is difficult for us to keep the whole truth in our minds at once.Īccordingly, Jesus asked his apostles, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Peter was right, said Jesus: God the Father had revealed Jesus’ divinity to him. It is “dangerous,” he said, to believe that Jesus is God without manhood, or Man without Godhead. In a homily, Pope Leo the Great (Pope 440-461) pointed out how Jesus’ Transfiguration bridges any misunderstanding we may have about the two natures in Jesus or the two testaments in the Bible.

Conversations with god book 1 part 1