WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?

[7-minute read]

There is a hierarchy of questions in our everyday conversations. Starting from questions that elicit a simple Yes/No response (Have you eaten? Did you have a good day?) to questions about events, people in our lives, how to do something or to get somewhere. Finally, there are more probing questions about our personal opinions and emotions.

If we are honest, most of our conversations don’t go beyond expecting or giving binary responses (true/false, I will/I won’t). We unconsciously put up artificial barriers to signal to others our discomfort with prying personal questions to keep people in the shallow end of relationships. When something happens to us in the deep end, we find that we don’t have a community to support and strengthen us.

Right before Jesus told His disciples that He would have to go to Jerusalem and “suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law” and also die, He asked them pointedly, in plain language, “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:13-19).

On that particular day, He had deliberately taken His disciples to Caesarea Philippi, a Gentile territory steeped in pagan worship and idolatry. It was an unusual venue for the talk He would have with them, but He had to remove them not only from familiar religious and ministry settings, but also from communities that knew who they were so that they could be left alone.

By this time, the disciples had already witnessed the phenomenal things that Jesus had done. They were there when He gave powerful teachings that stunned people and confounded teachers of the law and religious leaders. They had witnessed His mind-blowing miracles. They had seen His supernatural authority and power over the forces of nature. They had experienced God’s divine provision through Jesus who changed water into wine, and multiplied meagre portions of food to feed thousands.

Let’s be clear: Jesus did not pose the question to His disciples (“Who do you say I am?”) to feel the pulse of His disciples, or gauge His approval ratings. People had widely speculated about his identity so He was not surprised to find Himself being associated with past reformers and prophets like John the Baptist, Elijah and Jeremiah.

His question was directed solely towards twelve people who had spent an inordinate amount of time up close and personal with Him. Under close examination, the question (“Who do you say I am?”) contained three key characteristics that are explained sequentially below:   

THE CONFRONTATION: “What about you? Who do you say I am?” v15

Jesus did not intend to put His disciples on the spot to embarrass anyone. Rather, He was set on getting to the crux of His relationship with them and who they thought He was. It was an important conversation and He was not going to leave anything to chance. His disciples had reported who people thought He was but now, they had to go beyond relying on public opinion to finding their personal conviction of who Jesus was to them.

We all know the public figures in positions of influence and leadership in our communities but until we decide what role they play in our individual lives, they remain abstract icons of leadership. Our connections with them are highly amenable to change, especially when we feel that they had failed us.  

In the same way, you can say you love Jesus yet not truly understand who He is to you personally. Away from church gatherings (onsite or online), away from the presence and influence of other Christians, and away from people’s watchful eye, when you face trials and crises - who is Jesus to you?

The disciples, therefore, needed to decide who Jesus was to them individually before they faced conflict, chaos and confusion in the events that would precede His crucifixion and resurrection. It would be a time not only of great social turmoil, but also deep spiritual crisis on the individual level. For that reason, Jesus knew that they needed to have a personal conviction of who He was to them so that it would be immutable and capable of standing up to opposition and persecutions.

THE CONFESSION: “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’” v16

When we are asked to describe a person we know well, we can approach it in a few ways: we can quote someone else, we can describe the collective views of others about that person, we can describe what that person does, or we can share who that person means to us personally. Only the last option is a true confession, even if our opinion about that person is negative.

Likewise, your confession of who Jesus is to you must be personal. First and foremost, it must come from your own experience of Jesus - who He has been to you - and by faith, who you want Him to be in your lives.

We must grow from guessing to knowing who Jesus is to us. In different ways and to different extents, God has and still is in the business of transforming us and our lives. Through thick and thin, through the ups and downs of life, and when there is chaos and confusion, He is still revealing Himself to us individually so that we do not need to speculate about Him or resort to counterfeits of what He alone can offer.

For example, we might have experienced His peace when we faced insecurity. We might have received His divine wisdom when something unexpectedly threw a spanner in the works. We might have felt His comfort and love when people failed us. And we might have experienced His provision when someone suddenly stepped in to help in a very difficult time.

Know that God is not a dead and abstract icon in your life. In fact, your confession of who Jesus is must line up with how you live each day and how you relate to others. Can your life ever be the same without Him?

THE COMMISSION: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church… I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…” v18-19

Peter could be any one of us. He was someone with a past. When Jesus called Peter, “Simon son of Jonah”, it was an expression that referenced the beginning when Peter first met Jesus and he went by the name of Simon. The transformation from Simon to Peter was a trajectory grounded in Peter’s faith in Jesus, his preference for taking risks instead of staying stagnant and his confessions - sometimes right (v16), sometimes wrong (v22), but always true!

The modern church today must continue to be built on our unceasing confessions of who Jesus is! Let us not mistake the church of Jesus Christ for real estate, buildings, an address, or a branded membership group. It is primarily a community of faith made up of people who are redeemed by God and made right in His sight.

These words are for us, as it was for Peter and all the disciples: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (v19)

These are not keys to human whims and fancies, to our pleasures and personal ambitions but keys to access opportunities that God opens up in our lives to connect with people of all backgrounds and all kinds of past. Keys are the authority and anointing that God gives us to empower us as the church of Jesus Christ.

Christian author, A.W. Tozer, once said: “What has the church gained if it is popular but there is no conviction, no repentance, no power?” What this means is that the church is people like you and I. We are the church that Jesus sends out to the world. We are commissioned by God with a common mission. We are not a church because we attend one regularly but because we live as one every day.

This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 12 March 2022.