“But you, who do you say I am?” (Matt 16:15). Jesus is not interested in who we think other people say he is, people like priests and teachers and theologians and charismatics. He is only interested in who I say he is. The question of his identity is addressed personally to each one of us and it can only be answered by each of us in a personal way.
So who do I say Jesus is? For me, who is the human person who grew up in a remote village, who worked for most of his short life as a tradesman, who spent three years preaching, teaching, healing, and serving, who died a cruel death on a cross and who appeared to his followers after his death? Who do I say this man is? Peter told him that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt 16:16). Am I able and willing to make the same act of faith as Peter? ‘Jesus, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ When it comes to the question of Jesus’ identity there is no sitting on the fence, no opting out. I may delay offering an answer, but sooner or later I have to make a decision.
The question that Jesus asks each of us personally and directly is the most important question we will ever be asked. It is the question that needs to be answered by us in the silence of our own hearts. How we answer the question will have an impact on our lives. It will make a difference to how we experience the world and to the way we live. If I say, ‘Jesus, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ then I am accepting that Jesus is the person who saves me from the evils that threaten me, including death. What is more, I am also accepting that the values of Jesus are the values I need to live by. To accept Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, is to accept that there are many things that he can do for me. But it is also to accept that there are things that he would like me to do for him. To accept Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, is to take possession of the relationship he has with me and to make this relationship the anchor of my life.