At the height of his popularity as a preacher, Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi at the foot of Mt. Hermon and conducted a brief public opinion poll. “Who do people say that I am?” he asked. “Well, that’s sort of tricky question,” they said. “Some claim that you are John the Baptist returned from the dead, and others say that you are Elijah or Jeremiah. It all depends on who you ask.”

Of course, under normal circumstances, to be compared with one of these great prophets would have been considered a high compliment. But I doubt if Jesus took it that way because it meant that the people did not yet see him as the Messiah. They saw him as someone who was preparing Israel for the coming of the Promised One.

But then again, that might help to explain why he was so popular at this point in his ministry. As long as people saw Jesus as just a messenger and not the real thing, they could continue to hope for the Messiah they expected. They could follow Jesus and listen attentively to his sermons, but they could also hold onto their own dreams that one day when the Messiah truly comes, things will be different. There will no longer be pain or sorrow; there will no longer be violence or injustice.

After all, it’s always easier to claim that the Messiah is coming, than it is to claim that the Messiah has already arrived. If the Promised One is still on his way, then that would at least explain why there is still misery and suffering in the world. But if the Promised One has already been here, then why is the world still in such a mess?

Interesting enough, it was precisely when the disciples started proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah that his popularity among the people began to plummet. Why? Because he wasn’t the kind of Messiah they were expecting. In fact, he wasn’t even the kind of Messiah they wanted. In a word, Jesus disappointed them.

But therein lies the rub—we don’t get to shape the Messiah to fit our dreams. The Messiah always shapes us to fit his will. And so, Jesus’ original question back there at Caesarea Philippi remains a valid one. “Who do you say that I am?”

If you believe that he was really more of a messenger and not the true Messiah, then you probably need to keep searching, and dreaming, and hoping for better things to come. But if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, then the search is over … and the question is no longer “What do we expect of the Messiah?” but rather, “What does the Messiah expect of us?”