Nine and Counting - Where are you from? No! Where are you really from?

Source of the River Severn,
Plymlimon in Wales.

 “But who do you say I am?” he asked his friends.  Peter immediately responded, “You are the one we were told would come and sort out all our problems.”  

“You’re correct” Jesus said, “Keep it quiet for the moment.”

Jesus began to explain what was going to happen to him.

“As Peter said correctly, we know that the one to sort out people’s mess must suffer terrible things.  The person will be killed by the ruling authorities, but only die for three days as he will be brought back to life.”  

Peter took Jesus aside and scolded him for talking this way.  “Oh Peter”, said Jesus, “Don’t let evil ways cloud your vision! See from the perspective of the Creator.”

Mark 8

"Where do you really come from?"  A line of questioning made infamous last week on the BBC and world news.  What makes it special?

It's to do with power.  If a 'thirteen year old' asked these questions it would be equally crass, but be much less news worthy.  It was the power and status of the enquirer that made it at the best, rude and insensitive, and at the worst, racist.  The situation is described by the transitional model below.

P=Parent, A=Adult and C=Child

The question of the age of the enquirer has also been brought into the discussion because should 83 years be also a consideration?  I think not.  83 years should not be generalised.  

How would the furore have progressed if the question could have been framed "What is your family heritage?" To which the replay might be, "sorry I'm here to talk about other things.  That's a bit of a personal question to ask."  The question also fits into the dialogue of 'who's in, and who's out.  The intention to harm might not have been there, but it was skating close to thin ice, and the cracks soon appeared.

Where am I from?  Where am I going?  Do I come from nothing, and return to nothing?  Physically the cells that formed me were once within my grandmother.  These cells were formed in my mother as she was a foetus, so I have been 'born twice'.  

Peter (above)  gets it right.  He knows where Jesus is from.  But he's not all there.  He doesn't realise that it is inevitable that Jesus'  destiny is to suffer.