In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks his disciples two questions. The first is easy: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples simply report what they have heard. Some say John the Baptist. Others say Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. There were many opinions about Jesus then, just as there are many opinions about him now.
Some people today say that Jesus was a wise teacher, a compassionate healer, a prophet, or a good man who taught us to love one another. All of those answers contain something true. But none of them is enough. Jesus does not permit us to keep him at a comfortable distance as merely one admirable person among many.
So Jesus asks the second question, and this time no one can hide behind the opinions of others: “But who do you say that I am?”
That question is addressed to every one of us. It is not a question only for theologians, historians, priests, or religious. It is the decisive question of the Christian life. Who is Jesus for me?
Simon Peter answers: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter does not merely say that Jesus is interesting or inspiring. He confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, the One sent by the Father, the Son of the living God.
Jesus then tells Peter that this answer did not come from “flesh and blood.” Peter did not arrive at it simply through intelligence, research, or public opinion. The Father revealed it to him. Faith is a gift. We can learn facts about Jesus, study the Gospels, examine history, and listen to the testimony of others. All of that is important. But eventually knowledge about Jesus must become an encounter with Jesus. The question must become personal, and the answer must become our own.
Christianity is rooted in history. Jesus of Nazareth truly lived. He taught, healed, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, and left behind disciples who proclaimed that they had seen him alive after his death. Our faith is not built upon a fairy tale or a beautiful legend. It begins with events that happened in the real world.
But history alone cannot make the confession of Peter for us. A person may know many facts about Jesus and still not know him. We can know when he lived, where he walked, and what he taught, yet still avoid his question: “Who do you say that I am?”
Jesus cannot be reduced to a merely pleasant moral teacher. His words and actions make a much greater claim. Jesus forgives sins. He speaks of God as his Father in a unique way. He identifies himself with the Son of Man in the Book of Daniel, who receives an everlasting kingdom. He announces that the Kingdom of God is present in him. He tells us that his kingdom is not of this world. He accepts Peter’s confession that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And yet Jesus reveals what kind of Messiah he is not through political power or worldly triumph, but through the Cross. His throne is the Cross. His crown is made of thorns. His victory comes through self-giving love. He is the Son of Man who came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life for many.
The Resurrection is the Father’s vindication of Jesus. The One condemned as a blasphemer is revealed as the Lord of life. The tomb was empty. The disciples encountered the risen Jesus. Those frightened men and women became courageous witnesses, willing to suffer rather than deny what they had seen and heard. The Resurrection tells us that Jesus is not merely a figure from the past. He is alive.
This is why a personal relationship with Jesus is possible. Christianity is not first a philosophy, a moral system, or a collection of religious customs. It is an encounter with a living person who knows us, loves us, calls us by name, and invites us to follow him.
The risen Jesus knows our faith, but he also knows our questions, our wounds, our disappointments, and our fears. Think of the Apostle Thomas. Thomas wanted evidence that Jesus was alive. When the Lord came to him, Jesus did not humiliate him. He met Thomas precisely at the point of his doubt and showed him the wounds of love. Thomas responded, “My Lord and my God.” Not simply “the Lord,” but “my Lord.” The truth became personal.
Peter’s confession in today’s Gospel is also personal: “You are the Christ.” Our faith must reach that same point. It is not enough to say that our parents believed, that our grandparents were Catholic, that the Church teaches certain truths, or that other people have encountered Christ. Each of us must answer him.
We do not see Jesus in the same way Peter and Thomas saw him, but the risen Lord still comes to meet us. He speaks through the Scriptures. He acts through the sacraments. He reaches us through the life of the Church and through people whose charity, joy, freedom, and hope cannot be explained without him. Above all, he gives himself to us in the Eucharist. The One whom Peter confessed as the Son of the living God becomes present to us under the humble appearances of bread and wine.
In the first reading, the Lord places the key of the House of David upon the shoulder of Eliakim. In the Gospel, Jesus gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus does not leave us alone to invent our own Christianity. He builds his Church upon the rock of Peter’s confession and promises that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against it. Through the Church, the faith of the Apostles reaches us. Through the Church, Christ continues to teach, forgive, nourish, and gather his people.
But belonging to the Church is not a substitute for answering Jesus personally. The Church brings us face to face with him. Every Mass, every proclamation of the Gospel, and every reception of the Eucharist brings the question before us again: “Who do you say that I am?”
Perhaps our answer today is strong and confident. Perhaps it is mixed with doubt, pain, or struggle. We do not need to pretend. We can come to Jesus honestly. We can ask him for the grace that Peter received—the grace to recognize him. We can say, “Lord, help me to know you, to trust you, and to love you.”
Jesus is not merely someone we remember. He is not only someone we study. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He is the crucified and risen Lord. He is present in his Church. He comes to us in the Eucharist. He knows us personally and calls us to a living friendship with him.
Today Jesus looks at each one of us and asks: “Who do you say that I am?” May our answer be the answer of Peter and Thomas, not only with our lips but with our lives: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. My Lord and my God.”
This is central to the thought of Msgr. Luigi Giussani, the founder of Communion and Liberation. Christianity is not merely the preservation of information about an encounter that happened to other people long ago. The encounter must become present and happen again in our lives.
“Christianity is not a religious doctrine, a series of moral laws or a collection of rites. Christianity is a fact, an event.”
Msgr. Luigi Giussani
For Giussani, an event is something that happens—something that enters our experience and changes how we see ourselves and reality. Christ reached both Peter and Thomas through a human, bodily presence. Today Christ continues to reach us through his Body, the Church: through people whose lives bear an otherwise inexplicable freedom, hope, charity, and joy. May we be glowing Christians for others.
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