Apparently “Yes” by the fact that he asked this million-dollar question: “Who do the people say the Son of man is?” Many biblical scholars dubbed this as “the Galilean crisis”. It is noteworthy that Jesus asked this question when he and his disciples reached the region of Caesarea Philippi. A region named after two famous personalities of that time, Caesar Augustus, the emperor and Philip, one of the sons of Herod the great. Likewise, it is a Greco-Roman city with altars and statues of pagan deities, most especially the god “Pan”.

Our first reading tells us about Elijah fleeing from the wrath of Queen Jezebel who threatened to kill him after King Ahab told her that he was responsible for the death of two thousand prophets of Baal. Elijah ran away and fled for his life, going from Beersheba to Judah until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.