“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
There has never been a popular consensus about the identity of Jesus. If we crowdsource our knowledge of him it is likely that knowledge will be mistaken or at least partial. We will hear some tell us that he was a good teacher, others that he was a very good person, still others that he was a spiritual leader. Often what the crowd affirms about Jesus is true but it usually doesn't go far enough.
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
The crowds have their own answers to these questions but they cannot answer for us. There must come a point of decision for each individual.
But who do you say that I am?
Four ourselves, we have answered this question before, even many times. We have professed belief "in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made." But was it really us answering, or were we just voicing the opinion of others that seemed most probable to us? The Creed contains an answer we proclaim regularly at mass. But what do our lives proclaim about what we believe about Jesus? How do the words we say in the Creed align with our words and deeds in daily life, with the way we spend our time and money? Do our lives testify to the truth of who Jesus is? Were he only a good man or a spiritual leader it might be acceptable for our lives to look like those of anyone else in the world. But if he really is who he says he is we too must be different.
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Perhaps we have made this testimony sincerely in the past. If so, it would have been accompanied by a renewal beginning in our minds and gradually changing our habits and actions. But perhaps we haven't bothered with this question for a while. Perhaps, as a consequence, we have flagged in zeal and settled into complacency. The point is that this question of the identity of Jesus is not something we should ask only once and move on. For it is the reality of his identity that is the basis for our own renewal. What we discovered when we first realized who he was will still be true. But we can experience it again. We can remember the love we had at first (see Revelation 2:4), and even go deeper than before. The Father is always waiting to reveal the Son to anyone who opens his heart to him.
Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
The proof that we need to keep this question in the foreground is how quickly Peter stumbled after answering it.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
If Jesus is who he says he is then we need to trust him more than ourselves, even when to do so seems difficult, even when we don't understand. If the Son of God says he (or we) must suffer greatly, we may likely not understand, but we can trust that he knows better than ourselves what will be for the greatest good, what will unleash the most blessings upon the world.
When God gives us a revelation it is humanly a bit too easy to receive it and then to take charge ourselves, to go too far or not far enough. We receive a consolation from God about a specific truth and then add our own ideas as an addendum, imagining them to be justified as well. We are called to strike the rock for water only once, but we strike it twice.
Then, raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff,
and water gushed out in abundance for the people
and their livestock to drink.
If even Moses can make this mistake it is likely that none of us are immune. Both Moses and Peter were responding to God's grace in the face of something difficult. Both allowed the difficulty to harden their hearts just a little, and then overstepped their place. We should therefore pray for the Father to reveal his Son for us, for him to make living water flow from the Son for us. But we should ask that even when we receive this grace we not harden our hearts and remain open and docile no matter where or into what God leads us next.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert
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