It was an amazing moment when Jesus was meeting with His disciples, and He questioned them, “Who do you say I am?”  Peter impulsively gave the right answer: “You’re the Christ.”  Jesus celebrated the response and praised Peter for his unnatural insight.  But while Peter understood that Jesus was the Christ, he failed to understand what that actually meant.  Up until this point in time, Jesus was thought to be a political messiah, come to dethrone the Romans and to give political clout to the Jews once again.  Jesus shattered that notion when He informed the disciples of His impending death.  Naturally, they shrunk back at such a suggestion: Jesus wasn’t supposed to die; He was supposed to be a king.  They still didn’t understand.  Sometimes I wonder if we understand, either.  After all, our pictures of Jesus have him tending sheep and letting little children sit on His lap.  How could such a person be put to death?  Why would God ask Him to die?  The answer is frustratingly simple: there was no other way to reconcile the sins of man than to offer to a perfect, blood sacrifice.  Jesus came to earth with really one main purpose: to die.  And when He did that, He positioned Himself not to be a king of nations but to be a king of hearts.  His call was to die, and He fulfilled it with joy because He understood what His sacrifice enabled for all of us: reconciliation with our Father in heaven.