There are many questions Jesus asks throughout the Gospels, but perhaps none is more personal or more important than the question He asks His disciples in this Sunday’s Gospel: “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15).
At first, Jesus asks what other people are saying about Him. The disciples have plenty of answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. But Jesus is not interested simply in public opinion. He turns the question directly toward His disciples: “But who do YOU say that I am?”
Peter responds with one of the great declarations of the Gospel: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Two thousand years later, Jesus places that same question before each of us. Who do you say that I am?
As Catholics, we know the answers our Church teaches us. Jesus is the Son of God, God who entered our human story and became one of us. Jesus is our Savior, who through His Cross and Resurrection offers forgiveness and eternal life. Jesus is our Shepherd, who knows us personally and walks beside us through both the joys and difficult valleys of life.
Jesus is our Teacher, who shows us how to love, forgive, serve, and live. He is our Healer, who enters the wounded and broken places of our lives with mercy, compassion, and hope. And Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
But there is another important question we should ask ourselves: If this is who Jesus is, what difference does it make in who we are?
Calling Jesus “Lord” means more than knowing the correct answer to a religious question. If Jesus is our Teacher, then His words must influence our choices. If He is our Shepherd, we must be willing to follow where He leads. If He is our Savior, we must recognize our need for His mercy. And if He truly is our Messiah and Lord, then He cannot simply remain one small part of an otherwise busy life.
Who Jesus is should gradually shape who we become. It should affect how we speak to one another, how we treat people who are different from us, how we respond when someone disappoints us, how we use what God has entrusted to us, how we face suffering, and how we determine what truly matters.
There is a difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus. We can know the stories, recite the Creed, understand Catholic teaching, and still need to answer Christ’s question personally. And perhaps that is why Jesus' question remains so powerful after two thousand years.
He does not ask, “Who does your family say that I am?” or “Who does your parish say that I am?” He asks: “Who do YOU say that I am?” Our answer is certainly spoken in our prayers and professed every Sunday in the Creed. But ultimately, our answer is also revealed by the lives we choose to live.
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
May we have the courage to make Peter’s answer our own, and then allow that answer to shape the people we are becoming.
If Jesus truly is who we say He is, then following Him should change who we are.