Peter’s Confession about Jesus

Today's Reflections

                                       

 

Peter’s Confession about Jesus

Mt 16:13-20

¹³When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷Jesus 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. ¹⁸And 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. ¹⁹I 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.” ²⁰Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah.

"WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?" Aside from having a sense of one’s individuality, a person in Jesus’ time carries the personality that people ascribe to him or her. Oftentimes this ascribed personality—what people think of the person—is considered more important than what the individual thinks about himself. A man is known by the village he is from, the family he belongs to, and the trade he practices, usually inherited from his father.

Jesus is thus known among his contemporaries as “Jesus, the carpenter, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth,” or simply, “Jesus of Nazareth.” This does not bring him much honor because the stereotypical image of that village’s inhabitants is: worthless or of not much consequence. In fact, Nathanael from nearby Cana remarks: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (Jn 1:46).

Even Jesus’ occupation is humble: he is a “carpenter” (Mk 6:3), a “carpenter’s son” (Mt 13:55). The Israelites believe the adage: “Like father, like son.” Both Joseph and Jesus are tektonai, “stone or wood workers,” usually rendered as “carpenters.”

Jesus, however, does not conform to these stereotypes. He becomes an itinerant preacher instead of continuing to engage in the same profession as Joseph. He does not marry or stay home, as expected of him.

After engaging in preaching the word of God and showing that he is mighty both in word and in deed, people begin to attribute honorable opinions to Jesus. In the Gospel, the disciples tell Jesus that people perceive him as John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or another of the prophets.

These are all honorable perceptions, but these are not enough. Simon Peter then confesses Jesus to be the Christ (Messiah), “the Son of the living God.” No human being (flesh and blood) arrives at this knowledge, unless specially revealed to him by God. Peter gives Jesus’ true identity: not ascribed to him by human beings, but by the Father himself.

Still, as the narratives proceed, Peter and the disciples, as well as future believers, will have to know what is entailed in being his “Messiah” and “the Son of God.” And generations will always be confronted with the question: “Who do you say that I am?”