Luke 7-12 presents Jesus as a wise man inspired by God, a holy man and a moral champion (6). The miracles that Jesus performs and his prophetic knowledge confirm that He is closer to God. For example in Luke 9:10 He sought a private time with himself and in Luke 9:18, 28, 29 and 11:1He constantly prays. He also teaches his disciples how to live compassionately and wisely and guides and encourages them to engage in prayer (Luke 11:2-13). Luke 7-12 portrays the conventional image of Jesus based on the Biblical prophets who attain a new significance due to Jesus’ culmination of their purpose and because God blesses new people drawn from the Gentiles through Jesus (Acts 2:17-21). Luke 7-12 also presents Jesus as a prophet who is determined to go God’s way based on the scripture. For instance, Jesus will feed the hungry (Luke 9:10-17) and raise the dead (7:11-17; 8:40-55) just like Elijah in 1Kings 17:8-16 fed a widow and Elisha in 2 Kings 5: 1-27 cleansed a leper. Jesus’ journey and death also offer a pattern of virtue through which believers can endure suffering daily (9:23).
When Jesus asks, “But who do you say that I am?” in Luke 9:20, Jesus is aiming to see if His disciples really understand the kind of Christ He represents. The reason is that Jesus’ disciples understood Christ to be the reigning King without understanding the suffering and the sacrificial death that He must endure. Jesus defied the expectations of His disciples and entire Jews society who had different notions of who He really was. Some people thought that He was a powerful prophet just like Elijah; others thought that He was just another prophet while some thought that he will be a reigning King. All these notions about Jesus were incorrect because He mentioned that He will suffer, die, and then resurrect (Luke 9:22).
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Reference
Bibles, C. A. E. (2008). The Holy Bible: English Standard Version . HarperCollins UK.
