{"id":29082,"date":"2026-08-18T03:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T03:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/?p=29082"},"modified":"2026-08-20T03:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T03:53:18","slug":"who-do-you-say-that-i-am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/?p=29082","title":{"rendered":"Who Do You Say That I Am?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Reflection on Matthew 16:13\u201320 \u2013 Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There comes a moment in every relationship when knowing about<\/em> someone is no longer enough. Something more personal is asked of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we reach just such a moment in this Sunday’s Gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus begins with what seems a fairly safe question: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disciples can answer that easily. They have heard the conversations. Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. There is no shortage of opinions about Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then Jesus changes the question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But who do you say that I am?”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly this is no longer about what other people think. Jesus brings the question directly into the relationship between himself and his disciples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I think he brings that same question to each one of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Watershed in Matthew’s Gospel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I see this passage as a watershed in the Gospel of Matthew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until this point, the disciples have travelled with Jesus, listened to him, watched him heal, heard his teaching and witnessed remarkable things. They have already had glimpses of his identity. At his baptism the voice from heaven proclaimed him as the Son. After Jesus walked across the water, the disciples themselves declared, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here something changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter speaks for the disciples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It sounds almost like the destination towards which the Gospel has been travelling. They have finally understood who Jesus is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet it is not an ending at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From this point onwards, Jesus must teach the disciples what it actually means for him to be the Messiah. And they are going to find that much more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Messiah they confess is not simply a triumphant figure who will fulfil their expectations. Jesus will soon begin speaking about Jerusalem, suffering, rejection, death and resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter has given the right answer, but he has not yet understood everything contained within it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is something reassuring in that for me. Faith is not the moment when we finally understand everything about Jesus. Faith begins a journey into an ever-deepening understanding of the One in whom we believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Son of the Living God<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Peter’s confession contains two important titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus is the Messiah<\/strong> \u2014 the Anointed One. In the Old Testament, kings, priests and prophets were anointed for the mission entrusted to them by God. In Jesus, these expectations reach their fulfilment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Peter goes further:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find the word living<\/em> particularly significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not faith merely in a God of history, a God remembered because of what he once did. The living God is active now. God is acting and revealing himself in the person of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian faith, therefore, cannot simply be an acceptance of religious ideas. At its heart it is an encounter with someone who is alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That changes the question Jesus asks us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Who do you say that I am?” is not asking whether I can repeat the Creed correctly, important though the Creed is. It asks what place Jesus actually occupies in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is he to me<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You Are Peter”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jesus’ response to Peter is equally remarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He first calls him Simon, son of Jonah, and then gives him a new name:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Scripture, a new name often accompanies a new mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter’s confession leads to responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus entrusts something to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew uses the word ekklesia<\/em>, which we usually translate as “Church”, although “community” also helps us understand what is intended. Jesus is gathering a people, and Peter is being given a particular responsibility within that community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image of the keys strengthens this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Old Testament, keys signify delegated authority. Someone entrusted with the keys acts on behalf of the one from whom the authority comes. Peter’s authority, therefore, is never independent of Jesus. It exists because Jesus gives it to him and because it serves Christ’s community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, the language of “binding” and “loosing” was associated with the authority to make judgements about how God’s law should be lived. Later in Matthew, similar language will be used in relation to the wider community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, however, Matthew deliberately focuses our attention on Peter and the particular role entrusted to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What strikes me is that Jesus gives this responsibility to a man who is still growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know Peter’s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Very shortly he will misunderstand Jesus so badly that Jesus will rebuke him. Later he will promise never to abandon Jesus and then deny three times that he even knows him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Christ still calls him Peter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That tells us something important about Christian vocation. God does not wait until we are perfect before calling us. He calls us, gives us responsibility, and then continues forming us through that responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Keep the Messiah Secret?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel finishes rather strangely. Jesus orders the disciples not to tell anyone that he is the Messiah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the answer lies in what is about to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They know the title, but they do not yet understand its meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they simply went out proclaiming Jesus as Messiah, people could easily impose their own expectations upon him. Jesus must first show his disciples what kind of Messiah he is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cross and Resurrection will reveal what the title truly means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is important for us as well. We can sometimes make Jesus fit our expectations rather than allowing Jesus to reshape them. We can create a Christ who conveniently agrees with us, supports our preferences and asks very little change from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Jesus of the Gospel continually takes us deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Question I Cannot Avoid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As I returned to this Gospel, I found myself coming back to the question Jesus asks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Who do you say that I am?”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thought I might try to answer it myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not with the answer I learnt in theology. Not simply with Peter’s words. Not even with the answer I think I am supposed to give.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who do I<\/strong> say Jesus is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps that is a worthwhile exercise for all of us this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try putting the answer into your own words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Jesus is the Son of the living God, what difference does that make tomorrow morning?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I call him Lord, where does his lordship touch my decisions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I call him teacher, am I still allowing him to teach me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I call him friend, am I spending time with him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I say that he is the centre of my faith, does the way I live reveal that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a difference between knowing the correct answer and allowing the answer to shape a life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter himself will discover that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So will we.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lectio Divina ultimately leads us towards precisely this encounter. We begin with the Scriptures, but we cannot finish there. The Word must enter our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, perhaps we can sit quietly before Jesus and allow him to ask the question again:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Who do you say that I am?”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then, rather than reaching too quickly for a familiar answer, we might allow our response to come from the life we are actually living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because our answer to that question may well be the watershed upon which everything else depends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Bishop David Walker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Reflection on Matthew 16:13\u201320 \u2013 Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A There comes a moment in every relationship when knowing about someone is no longer enough. Something more personal is asked of us. I think we reach just such a moment in this Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus begins with what seems a fairly safe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":29083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bishop-david-walker","category-newsletter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t