Reflection of The Ven. Dr Deborah Broome

Who do you say Jesus is?

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.                                  Matthew 16:13-20

Sometimes this can feel like a pop quiz – Jesus wanting to know what people are saying about him, and the disciples responding with a survey of opinion: “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  But it seems what Jesus really wants to know is what the disciples are saying about him – not just who they think he is, but what they’re bringing to the conversations.  And that requires them to put into words what Jesus has come to mean to them.  And then Simon Peter answered: “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.”

Somehow, perhaps without realising it, Peter had grasped something important – something about who Jesus was.  The Messiah, the Christ, the long-awaited and anointed one whom God had sent for the sake of God's people.  The son of the living God: Peter was saying he saw in Jesus something which spoke to him so very clearly of God.  Jesus’ reaction: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!  For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven”  suggests that this was one of those moments of insight when God’s presence and leading becomes unmistakably clear.

Peter’s answer and Jesus’ response tell us something about who Peter was.  “Who am I?”  “Who are you?” are questions about basic identity.  But they’re hard ones to answer.  If anyone ever asks you “who are you?” most people respond with “what” answers.  What job they do (I’m a farmer, I’m a teacher), where they come from (I’m a Kiwi, I’m from Tauranga), what they spend their leisure time or their money on (I’m a squash player, I’m a Magpies fan), or sometimes I’m Mary’s father, John’s wife, or even Abby’s human companion.

Who are you? is much harder.  And that’s why Peter’s answer to Jesus’ question tells us something not just about Jesus’ identity but about Peter’s as well.  Because speaking those words about Jesus says something about how Peter sees himself and the life he wants to lead.  Because it says something about the relationship between Jesus and Peter. 

Perhaps the answer that really matters to the identity question is the one that comes at the beginning of the old Book of Common Prayer catechism.  The confirmation candidate is asked “What is your name?”  Answer: “N or M.”  “Who gave you this name?”  Answer:  “My Godfathers and Godmothers in my Baptism, wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.”  This links identity to relationship with God.  And it links it to membership of the Church and to living the life, fulfilling the mission of someone who can say with Peter that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the son of the living God.

Who do you say that Jesus is?  And what does that say about who you are?

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