23 August 2026 13th Sunday after Pentecost
Exodus 1.8-2.10 Psalm 124 Romans 12.1-8 Matthew 16.13-20
Who do you say that I am. It seems an innocuous question, yet it is one that carries with it a world of understanding. Who we say that God is, or that Jesus is, depends heavily on God’s interaction with us in our lives. For some Jesus may be an itinerant do-gooder who ended up on the wrong side of the power brokers in society and paid the price for it. For others, Jesus may be the light and life of their lives and the reason for them waking up in the morning.
Peter recognised Jesus as the Son of the Living God and Jesus recognised who Peter is and changes his name from Simon to ‘Petros’, rock, reflecting who and what Peter will be for the community of followers in the future. But, as we will see next week, Peter is just as ‘fallible’ as the rest of us, because he totally misunderstands what it means for Jesus to be Messiah. It seems that knowing Jesus to be Son of the Living God does not stop Peter, and probably most of us, from failing to follow, or even see, God into those ‘awkward’ and ‘difficult’ places and times of our lives.
Interestingly, Jesus asks the ‘who am I’ question twice, once in the ‘third person’ and then as a ‘personal’ question. And he even gives away the answer the first time – ‘who do people say the Son of man is’. And the answers the disciples give shows us the community has no idea. The Son of Man – Messiah, was expected to come in with a huge flourish and wipe away the Romans and give back to the people of Israel control of their own livelihood. So - John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah? They have come and gone. So they cannot be the Messiah or the Son of man, because Rome is still in power and nothing much else has changed. And then Jesus asks the personal question of the disciples. “Who do you say that I am”, he all-but owns the Son of man identity in the questioning. And Peter takes it further and identifies him as Messiah. And Jesus responds by identifying who Peter is, rock on whom the future of the story will rest.
But, as I said, he is about to ‘blot his copybook’ and deny the journey this Son of the Living God needs to take. And that is our challenge. How willing are we to see God working in places we would prefer to ignore. How willing are we to go into those places and share God’s peace, love and mercy where there is political, social, emotional strife. How much do we ‘sterilize’ God’s message because it gets too difficult to allow it to speak its own story.
We are called, like Peter, to share God’s message and mission with the world. Are we able to take it ‘as it is’ or do we need to ‘tame’ it so that it meets ‘our’ story or plan, rather than God’s. My question, to myself, when reading this passage is, do I need to know who God is for me before I can know who I can be for God, or is it the other way round. And to be honest, I am still trying to work that out. I know who God is, I can sprout it to till the cows come home, but sometimes ‘knowing’ who God is doesn’t help me know which way to go next. But I am learning that in discovering who God is for me, I also learn who I can be for God, and vice versa. As I learn who I can be for God, I also learn who God is for me.
Peter did not have to think twice when Jesus asked the question. Do I? Could I be so quick to answer. Yes I know who Jesus is, theoretically, but do I ‘know’ who he is, in real terms. Do I ‘know’ Jesus as a reality in my life, do I ‘live’ Jesus, or just ‘speak about’ Jesus. Jesus didn’t comment on the options the disciples offered to his first question, and he really didn’t even affirm or deny the answer Peter gave. But he did point out that ‘flesh and blood’ did not give Peter that answer. Seeing Jesus in reality, walking with him, living with him, did not tell Peter that this was the Messiah, ‘knowing’ him in the way he affected Peter, and the others; ‘experiencing’ the changes Jesus made in the lives of so many people; witnessing his ministry and his life meant that Peter ‘knew’ Jesus in a way that could not be measured in cognitive ways. Peter ‘knew’ Jesus in a way that he could not explain and at the same time it allowed him to know ‘who’ he was.
When we get to know ‘who’ God is for us, we will grow into a knowledge of ‘who’ we can be for God. And as we discover who we can be for God, we will also learn and come to know who God is for us.