Who Do You Say That I Am?

Today, we celebrate the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. St. Peter: the man Jesus chose to be the first leader of His Church through which all His blessings, mercy, and graces flow, and St. Paul: the man Jesus sent to spread the faith and proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles, to us. Two very flawed men who, through total surrender to the will of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit… changed the world. Two men who, through their weakness, were made strong by coming to the realization that Jesus is God and [by] living their lives in Him, with Him, and through Him. This knowledge changed everything for them, just as it will for us - because if we come to know who Jesus truly is and allow that knowledge to flow from our head to our heart, life will never be the same. 

In the Gospel, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is? They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

Wow! That’s pretty impressive. Those are some pretty lofty names in the history of the Jewish faith. 

It’s clear that the people in the region of Caesarea Philippi knew that there was something special about Jesus. They knew that He was a holy man sent to them by God and that through Jesus, God was blessing them with a person the likes of which had never been seen. However, nobody (and I mean nobody) would have ever been so bold as to say that He was actually God Incarnate - God Himself come down to earth in human form, born of a woman, raised by family, a mother and father, as any other young boy would be. This is something they probably couldn’t have even imagined or dreamt of. Nobody would say this out loud because at the time, that was crazy talk and saying something like that would be considered so blasphemous, you would be putting your life in jeopardy. 

Then Jesus asked the disciples another question. By now, they had been with Him for almost three years as He formed them and prepared them to spread the gospel, the good news, without Him. He wanted to know if they were ready because He knew that He would be leaving them soon. So He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Now that’s the question - that’s the question that He really wanted the answer to, isn’t it? When Jesus asked this question, He knew that His Passion, Death, and Glorious Resurrection were coming and they needed to be ready to do as He later told them in Matthew 28 just before He ascended into heaven, to “go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” 

One of His disciples spoke up to answer the question He asked, “But who do you say that I am?”

It was Peter, and at least on this occasion, he had the perfect answer…

He said, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” Jesus said in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” Then Jesus changed his name from Simon to Peter, which means rock, and bestowed upon him unimaginable gifts of spiritual power and grace. He said, “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” Through these words, Jesus made St. Peter our first pope. Jesus also gave him the keys to the kingdom of heaven and authority, through Him, to forgive sins. This authority has been passed down through the ages to the bishops and priests of the Church, allowing us to experience the forgiveness and mercy of Jesus, personally, in the Sacrament of Confession. 

Our readings from Acts 2 and Timothy give us insights into the lives of Saints Peter and Paul after Jesus had suffered, died, rose, and ascended into heaven. They both not only fully understood who Jesus was, but they had also surrendered their will to His will and were living the life that He had called them to live. We see that they were both severely persecuted for spreading the gospel. St. Peter had been arrested by King Herod and was in prison. He had guards on each side of him in his cell as he slept, plus more guards outside keeping watch, but an amazing thing happened. An angel of the Lord came and woke him up, and suddenly the chains fell from his wrists, and the angel led him out of prison. At first, Peter thought it was a dream, but as he emerged from the prison and the angel left him, he realized that it was the Lord who had sent the angel to save him. 

In the same way, our enemy the devil puts us in prison, but with lies and deceit as our chains. He sets guards to watch us, to keep us from escaping his influence. He does this because he fears our escape from these chains since he knows that then his influence, which can hinder or even totally prevent us from growing in our relationship with the Lord Jesus, will be removed. They will fall from our hearts and our minds, like the chains from St. Peter’s wrists, that we may know, believe, and live the life of faith that would move us to cry out to Jesus as St. Peter did: “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” 

We know that St. Paul suffered for the Lord as well and was eventually martyred, as St. Peter was for preaching the gospel of Jesus. He tells us today how hard he fought for the Lord, acknowledging that the Lord had saved his life many times and [had] given him the strength to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles. Ironically, we know that St. Paul was not always a follower of Jesus. He was a Pharisee who had participated in the hunting down of Christians (including the stoning of St. Stephen, the first deacon). 

St. Paul’s conversion happened in an encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus. During this encounter with Jesus, St. Paul learned quickly and in a dramatic way exactly who Jesus is. Acts chapter 9 tells us that “a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell off his horse to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ He said, ‘Who are you, sir?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’” Soon after, he was baptized, and the Lord changed his name from Saul to Paul, and he spent the rest of his life in service to the Lord.

Today, we have heard how St. Peter and St. Paul responded when faced with the reality of who Jesus truly is. They both came to understand that yes, He was the long-awaited Christ or Messiah, both of which mean “the Anointed One,” but He is infinitely more than that because Jesus is God. He is the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the Creator of the universe, and the second person of the Most Holy Trinity.

Brothers and sisters, while reflecting on these two great men in the history of the Church, we should remember that there was a time in both of their lives when they were not great men of God and that even after their conversion to Christ, they were both still sinners. They are just like all of us - no better, no worse, but their example of faithfulness to God, humility, and total surrender to Him is what we should all strive for. 

Who knows? If God can take flawed and sinful men like Saints Peter and Paul and use them to spread the Christian faith throughout the earth, what might he be able to do with us? 

But to find out what God’s plans are for us, we must also surrender ourselves to the Lord Jesus, body, mind and soul, just as they did. Spending time with the Lord daily so that we are continually growing in our relationship with Him: THIS is the only way we will ever be able to confidently answer the question Jesus poses to all of us today and every day (not just when we’re in church but at all times, in every aspect of our lives, no matter what we’re doing or who we’re with). Even when we’re alone, Jesus is always asking this question to our heart and to our mind.

He is asking: 

“Who do you say that I am?” 

Amen!