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"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
People typically get part right and part wrong when they are asked about Jesus. As the one who came to fulfill the preparation made by the forerunner John the Baptist there was something to say for identifying Jesus with John. Jesus had himself made comparisons to the days of Elijah, and his mighty deeds, such as raising a girl to life, would have reminded the people of him. There was a symbolic sense in which Elijah was supposed to mark the dawn of the Messianic age. But Jesus attributed this sense to John the Baptist, not to himself. Jeremiah was a prophet who prophesied the destruction of the temple, he was accused and persecuted by priests and secular authorities, even thrown into a pit and brought up again. He was probably more similar to Jesus than the people knew. Yet he was also more different than they dared to guess. So too for all of these possible answers. They all had some insight. But none of them got to the heart of it.
"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
In our own day we actually fare worse if we rely on others for our ideas about Jesus. We hear that he was a good man, or a spiritual master, or an enlightened individual. Among those less informed about history they may suggest that he didn't exist or that he was merely a political figure around whom myth and legend grew.
Even asking other Christians might go wrong, and this for two reasons. First, because other Christians are often uninformed themselves. They may say that Jesus was the highest created being, second only to God. They may say that he was God giving the illusion of a human form. They may accidentally repeat any number of the heresies that result from imprecision about the joining of the the truly divine and the truly human in Jesus. They may not give due credence to the necessity of the historical reality of Jesus. Yes, even many Christians have acquiesced to a Jesus whose life need only be 'spiritually true'. But the second reason Christians can't ultimately help answer the question for us is that at the deepest level, the answer is not communicable. It is not merely data and correct Christological formulas. Even if other Christians understand as precisely as possible who Jesus truly is we can't just download their solution into our own minds.
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
We have to attempt to make an answer for ourselves. But in doing so we don't ignore all that we know and have learned about Jesus as we do so. And yet, flesh and blood, including all that we have learned and experienced of Jesus is insufficient alone. All of our knowledge and memory, elevated by grace, are taken up into an invitation by the Father himself. We are free to respond, confirming the meaning hidden below the surface of what we knew about Jesus, and along with it the meaning hidden in our own lives. We are free to reject him, refusing to acknowledge anything but the superficial, rejecting the Father himself within our hearts moving us toward faith. No one can take our place in this I-Thou relationship. No can finally take our place and answer on our behalf.
No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives
how to know the LORD.
All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD
Although it is up to us to answer the question of Jesus about his identity, the correct answer is not something we simply make up our derive ourselves, just as it is not something we receive from others. It is something that we are taught by God himself, just as Peter was. It is something that confirms and makes sense of all of the teachings of the Church, which somehow brings all of Scripture and Tradition alive in our hearts, where before it may have been merely a dead letter. This sounds imposing, or so supernatural as to be extremely rare. But we need not fear. We see from Jeremiah that it was always God's plan to teach us in this way. Isaiah too echoed this, writing "All your children shall be taught by the Lord" (see Isaiah 54:13). Our part is that we open ourselves to this invitation. Even if we believe we know or have already answered the question, Jesus wants to make the reality of who he is ever more clear within our hearts. His Father is himself ready and willing to draw us more and more deeply into that truth.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
The Church is the place were Jesus is most fully present, where his truth is infallibly taught. Without her, we won't be able to see enough of Jesus himself to make a good response to his question. She is the one who assures that he is sufficiently available to the faithful that the call of the Father to confess the Son is intelligible, even if it remains a mystery no one entirely comprehends. Just as Peter was positioned to respond to the Father because he had spent time with Jesus, so too is the presence of Jesus in the Church meant to invite the world to make this some proclamation of faith.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
"God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you."
As proof that we need to continually revisit the question of the identity of Jesus we are presented with the failure of Peter that followed immediately on his praiseworthy confession. From a new and spiritual way of thinking he quickly reverted to an earthly one. And so too, often, do we. There is still too much of our own presumptions and presuppositions clinging like rust to our answer that Jesus is the Son of God. We need these shaken from us by listening constantly to the Father inviting us to make an ever more clear, ever more personal answer to the question of Jesus asking each one of us, "who do you say that I am?"
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