WHO DO PEOPLE THINK JESUS IS?

But, you, who do you say that I am?

Matthew 16

People talk! Thanks to talk radio, cell phones and cable news, people seem to be talking more than ever? It seems that everyone has an opinion on everything and everyone is more than willing to express that opinion! The late Jerry Springer made a fortune from giving the most pathetic human beings on the planet a stage and a microphone to tell the world just how pathetic they are! Hollywood stars, who have failed at multiple marriages, are more than willing to give endless advice on love without batting and eye!  Some cable news show hosts pass off personal opinions and half-truths as “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!”  Rumors, gossip and salacious interests are increasingly packaged under the banner of “the people’s right to know.”  You can hardly go into a restaurant or grocery, you can hardly drive down the street or take a walk, you can hardly even go to the restroom or to church without encountering a bunch of people without the ring of cell phones. Have you ever wondered what in the hell they are talking about for all that time? All this encourages us to never have a thought without sharing it with somebody! People do talk!

People talked at the time of Jesus, as well. The only way of communication open to the great masses of people was talking: passing on the news and passing on religious history from one person to the next, by word of mouth. In fact, the contents of the gospels themselves were passed on by word of mouth for years and years before they came to be written down. Choosing a special place called Caesaria Phillipi, a place littered with pagan temples, the shrines of nature religions and the memories of Jewish history, Jesus, knowing that his identity was being discussed, asks his disciples this famous question, “Who do people say that I am?” It is as if Jesus deliberately sets himself against the background of the world’s great religions and demands to be compared with them and to have a verdict given in his favor. Knowing Peter to be a man of loose lips, willing to spill the beans, without hesitation or without gilding the lily, Jesus proceeds to ask Peter two questions: (a) “who do people say that I am” and (b) “who do you say that I am?”

(a)                     People talked.  Some said that Jesus reminded them of John the Baptist. Some even thought Jesus might actually be John, come back to life! Jesus reminded others of their greatest prophet, Elijah, who was expected to return before the coming of the Messiah. Some thought maybe Jesus actually was Elijah come back to life! Jesus reminded still others of Jeremiah, who was expected to return right before the coming of the Messiah. Some of them thought maybe Jesus actually was Jeremiah come back to life.

(b)                     It was good old clumsy and talkative Peter who was the first to get it right. In this story Jesus turns to Peter and says, “Forget what everyone else is saying about me. You, who do you say that I am?’ He asks Peter to move from parroting other people’s faith to claiming a faith of his own. As always, Peter steps up to the plate. Peter says that he believes that Jesus is not just some old prophet announcing the Messiah, he is the Messiah! He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. “Christ” is simply the Greek word for the Hebrew word “Messiah,” both meaning “the Anointed One.” 

This is a very important moment in this gospel. Jesus now knew that at least one person had publicly recognized him for who he was. It was on Peter’s faith that Jesus would build his church on the faith of many more such believers. Our text ends with Jesus saying something very strange. He tells Peter not to talk about their exchange until he had time to bring others to that same faith. If that news got out before he had the chance to teach the others, rumors and gossip would cause a lot of people to come to all kinds of strange conclusions, one of which was a movement that rose up to try to make him a king!  In other words, it was not the right time to tell the world at that point.  

“But, you, who do you say that I am?” Sisters and brothers, this question is asked of us today. Whether you are a young adult beginning to chart your own course, or someone whose childhood faith has lasted for generations, it is time for you to move from parroting other people faith to a faith of your own. It is no longer acceptable for you to answer that question by saying “my parents said this, my pastor said that, my religion teachers said the other thing.” Jesus leaps off the page today to ask all of us, “Who do you say that I am?” It is s blunt challenge to move from an inherited faith to a personal faith.

When I was working in the Bellarmine Campus Ministry Department, we were there to help students answer that question! Jesus called them to faith, but we were there to help their questions! Entering college is traditionally a time when some of them would leave the church, if not for a while, maybe permanently.  However, it was also a time when some of them would begin the challenging process of making the faith of their parents their own personal faith. At that time, Ms. Melanie Prejean Sullivan was the head of the campus ministry program. She is a faith-filled capable woman who was dedicated to helping them internalize their inherited faith. If they were not Catholic students, we tried to help them find a faith community of their choice to worship with or we invited them to join the Catholic students, whenever they wished, who attended our Masses at Our Lady of the Woods Chapel.

My job in the campus ministry program was to preach and celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday night in their beautiful chapel, as well as at Baccalaureate Masses. I was also available to them for spiritual advice. My favorite thing to do there as a priest was to preach, to introduce young adults to the Jesus of the Bible and the wisdom of the church. I worked hard at it. I preached, not condemnation, but encouragement. I preached the fact that God loved them no matter what they had done or failed to do, no ands, ifs and buts about it! I preached the fact that their best was good enough for God. Instead of looking for faults to condemn, I tried to look for the goodness in them and encourage that! I tried to make them feel valued and appreciated by the church. We had a great chapel community, and with their attendance and enthusiasm, we attracted more and more students every year. One year, we had so many students coming to Sunday night Mass that we had to ask our visitors to go back to their parishes so that the students could get in to the Chapel! I reminded them that even if they chose not to get involved in the other campus ministry programs, they could try to give God one hour each week. I challenged them to spend that hour with a community of students that I found deeply spiritual, sometimes ravenously so! I challenged them to become part of a community of students who were trying to answer Jesus’ question in today’s gospel, “You! Who do you say that I am?”