Who Are You?

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter,and upon this rock I will build my Church,and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” - Mt. 16:13-19

Think about your relationship with your friends. How often do we ask our friends what others think of us or what they think of us? We always hope they will say something positive, like "Everyone loves you!" "I think you're the greatest!" Jesus is not that different. He wants his apostles to respond honestly, but hopes they will say the right thing, which Peter does.

Jesus is so impressed with Peter's response that he takes that moment to declare Peter to be the "rock" upon he will build his faith community. Jesus trusts his closest apostle. Jesus sees a glimmer of hope in a man that he knows will deny him on Good Friday. Within three verses even, Jesus condems Peter's response to his annoucement that he will be put to death soon. Jesus tells him "Get behind me Satan!"

Jesus is not having second thoughts about trusting Peter, but rather is casting the temptation of escaping his fate out of his close friend's mind. He is reminded that Peter is just human and still lacks the ability to comprehend the necessity of Jesus' death.

How do we respond to the question of Who do people say Jesus is? Who do we say he is? Let's spend the next six weeks searching for our answer to these questions.