We may think of the twelve as Christ's family with whom He often prayed
apart from the multitude. One such occasion was in Cæsarea Philippi. The
prayer was followed by two earnest and solemn questions. "He asked the
disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of Man is? And they said,
Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah or one of
the prophets."

How strange these sayings must have sounded to St. John and his Jordan
companions, who had been directed by the Baptist to their Messiah. Three
of them were soon to witness Elijah's tribute to Him, as being more than
the "Son of Man." Such already had He become to them. He was more
interested in the opinions of the disciples than in those of the
multitude. So He asked with emphasis, "But who say ye that I am? And
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but
My Father which is in heaven."

But in the mind of Jesus even this blessed revelation was not enough for
His believing yet frail disciples. Even the three, the most enlightened
of the twelve, needed a clearer vision of Him and His kingdom, and
strength for trials they were to endure. So they needed His prayers.

"From that time began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must
go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things, ... and be killed." He needed
prayer also for Himself. So "Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James and
John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves."
The favored three, who had witnessed His power in the raising of Jairus'
daughter, were to be witnesses of his glory. Luke says He "went up into
the mountain to pray." Not Tabor,--for which mistaken tradition has