Mark 8:27
And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Cæsarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Cæsarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?
The question was asked on the way to the towns of Caesarea Philippi, beyond Galilee where idolatry and heathen worship prevailed, as His earthly work was nearing its close. In that heathen region He devoted Himself more fully to teaching the disciples than to the people, using their surroundings to impress upon them their responsibility to the heathen. It begins the scene where He asks the disciples who people say He is, questioning them before telling them of the suffering awaiting Him so they could confess their faith and be strengthened for the coming trial.
The popular answers were that He was a prophet, that He was the Son of David as some who saw His miracles said, and that He should be made king as the crowd fed at Bethsaida had wanted, yet Israel as a whole failed to recognize Him as the Messiah. By this time He had already revealed Himself to the disciples as the Messiah, filling them with glowing expectations that He would be exalted to the throne of David in an earthly kingdom, and His questioning on the way drew out that hope.
He answered that hope by foretelling that He would remain a humble homeless wanderer, voluntarily go to Jerusalem to be despised and rejected and put to death, though He also promised to come in glory with God and the hosts of heaven. He already knew this suffering and death ahead of Him, yet willingly continued His mission to save the lost, enduring the cross's suffering and shame for the joy of saving people and winning the world back to loyalty to God. The disciples, who loved Him, were oppressed with sadness, doubt, and incomprehension that the Son of God should submit to cruel humiliation. They fixed their eyes on the nearer view of poverty, humiliation, and suffering rather than His promised coming in glory, and feared He would leave them in greater darkness than before He had revealed Himself to them.