We can spend our lives acquiring knowledge about ourselves, others, the world around us, God himself, and still not know enough. Our desire to understand is so infinite, our ability to learn impressive, yet limited by time. Any endeavor in this finite life would seem useless, without some sort of promise of eternity.
In today’s gospel, Peter receives that promise of eternity when he answers that Jesus is the Christ, the one who has come to the world to bring us salvation and life eternal. Yet Jesus warns them not to tell anyone, at least not for the time being. There is an appointed time for everything, after all. First, he would have to suffer, die, and rise from the dead.
For those of us who live on this side of the Resurrection, is there a time to hold off from proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior? I think the answer is “no.” Our lives should always preach the Gospel in words and in deeds. Perhaps, however, we can pray that the Holy Spirit might always be with us to show us how to preach Christ to the world.