"JESUS set out with HIS disciples for the villages around Caesarea Philippi; and on the way HE asked them, 'Who do people say I AM?' And they told HIM, 'Some say, YOU are John the Baptist; others say, YOU are Elijah of one of the prophets.'
Then JESUS asked them, 'But you, who do you say I AM?' Peter answered, 'YOU are the Messiah.' And HE ordered them not to tell anyone about HIM.
JESUS then began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law. HE would be killed, and after three days rise again. JESUS said all this quite openly, so that Peter took HIM aside and began to protest strongly. But JESUS, turning around, and looking at HIS disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, 'Get behind ME, Satan! You are thinking not as GOD does, but as people do.'" - Mark 8:27-33
(Here the Gospel already foretells the tragic end. For the first time, the apostles take account of who their Master is.
YOU are the Messiah. CHRIST is a Greek word that means the Messiah in Hebrew. They both mean: the anointed or consecrated one. This term designated the long-awaited Savior. The apostles discover that JESUS is the Messiah, the Liberator, but HE teaches them that the Son of Man [the Human One] has to suffer many things.
Why does JESUS call HIMSELF the Son of Man? For two reasons: first, because one page in Scripture speaks of the Son of Man who gloriously comes from GOD to judge all people and to rule all the nations [Daniel 7:13]. Second, because JESUS is the perfect Human and bears the destiny of Humanity.
JESUS had to suffer, because this is the fate of sinners. HE had to suffer and be rejected by the authorities, because this is the destiny of those who proclaim the truth. HE had to freely go to HIS death because self-sacrifice is the only means for the salvation of the world.)
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