Foot Notes

In the silence “Behold God beholding you...and smiling.”Anthony de Mello

Jesus asks: Who do you say that I am?
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven....
20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Have we finally come to the real question? Was all the discussion of what the crowds thought, the views of those outside the small band of disciples just a way for Jesus to ask us? Are we different; do we truly get it? Why would we say anything other than what circulates among the people? Is this a question that must be answered on another level? Ponder for awhile.

When Jesus asked his disciples maybe he sought more to penetrate their hearts than to hear their reasoned answer. I don’t know but when the question comes to me, the answer flows not from logic or observation. Yes, what Jesus did, to a student of the Hebrew Scriptures, could provoke a convincing argument that he was the one who was to come, God’s anointed. But would that really sway the people to his way? As convincing it seems is the opposite view—Jesus’ lack of effort to return the nation to its glory, to defeat the oppressive conquerors and rulers, expected of the One to come, seems to say he is not the Messiah. Only a small band was to know he was the Son of God.

So how are we to hear today Christ’s question? Who do you say that I, Jesus, am? What will you answer? How will you speak? Does it matter if and how you answer? Truly hear and wonder in your whole being.