Everything Remains to Be Done

One of the most sobering things about being born again is the realization that nothing is left undone, and yet everything remains to be done.

This incredible lack of necessity coupled with an incredible insufficiency is keenly represented in Matthew 16, where Peter says, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (16:16, KJV)--which is here taken as such a signal moment by Jesus (not so much so in the parallel passage in Mark 8: "And he charged them that they should tell no man of him".)  What is most curious is that Jesus' satisfaction of the messianic identity is held by the disciples from the start: "We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write...." (John 1:45).

Here, Peter comes to know what he knows all along.  Of  course, much has been made, by both Catholic and Protestant, of  Peter's "confession," yet scarcely a beat passes in the text before Jesus is saying to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan" (Matthew 16:23).