08/24/2026
Who do you say that he is?
(Mt 16:13-20)
A few years ago, I was working on a book on the story of the Raising of Lazarus, which I know is not our Gospel today, but bear with me.
One of the most enjoyable parts about writing a book is learning something new from experts. In the process of doing research, I received a fascinating email from Ben Witherington III, an esteemed Protestant New Testament scholar.
Ben is a thoughtful scholar, who knows the Holy Land well and who loves to connect the dots, as it were, and look carefully at the Gospels to see what we might have overlooked.
And what he said about today’s Gospel passage, changed the way I looked at Jesus’s question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
Anyway, here goes.
Ben told me that he loves taking pilgrims to Caesarea Philippi, the destination of Jesus and the disciples in today’s reading. It’s in northern Galilee. Originally, said Ben, it was the Greek city of Panyas, or Banyas, with the cave of the god Pan located there, along with a wall filled niches that contained statues of various deities, who would have been seen as “sons of God.”
In Jesus’s time, Caesarea Philippi was also the location of a temple dedicated to Augustus, “with the beginning of the imperial cult, where the emperor himself was worshiped as a god.”
What’s more, there was also a cave at the spot which was supposed to be an entrance to the underworld, to Hades.
So, asks Witherington, “Why in the world would Jesus go there to reveal his identity?
Well, the connection to the “gates of hell” would have been strikingly obvious here. But, more to the point, Jesus could point to the statues and the temple and say, ‘These are parodies of which I am the reality.’”
This helps us understand more deeply the crucial question that Jesus posed to the disciples: “Who do the people say that I am?”
The disciples answer with what were probably popular notions about Jesus’s identity at the time: John the Baptist come back to life, a reincarnation of Elijah or Jeremiah, or perhaps a new prophet. It’s a canny way of asking the disciples—without asking them directly—who they think he is.
Finally, he does ask them directly. A Jesuit friend of mine who is a teacher imagines them suddenly clamming up when he asks. And only Peter says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” But, in fact, Jesus is much more than the Messiah, and much more than the disciples could know or even imagine. How much more would not be revealed until the Resurrection.
That question is at the heart of every Christian’s spiritual journey: Who is Jesus for you? Of course, we know and believe his titles: Son of God, Messiah, Second Person of the Trinity. All essential parts of the Catholic and Christian life. But who is he for you? How do you see Jesus in your life?
Before I entered the Jesuits, on my first retreat, my retreat director asked me that same question: "Who is Jesus for you?" The next day I presented him with a list of a few of those titles: Son of God, etc. He then asked me to return to the same question for the next day. So, I did, seeing it as a kind of homework assignment, collating for him a few more theological terms. Instead, I lay down on the green grass outside the retreat house and the word “friend” popped into my mind. I started to think of how good it would be to have Jesus as a friend. Someone who would accompany you, listen to you, challenge you, love you.
The next day when I told him that, he said, “I think you’re starting to pray.”
The disciples knew Jesus as a man, but also as the Son of God. They saw him eat, grow tired and lose his temper. They also saw him still storms, heal the sick and raise the dead. To see him as both human and divine means not only to accept the traditional theological titles, but also to know him as your brother, your companion and your friend.
But again, is he just their friend and brother?
So, one of the most important questions asked of the disciples is one of the most important questions asked of you: Who do you say that he is?
Your life turns on the answer to that question. Is Jesus someone whom you admire, but whom you follow only when it’s convenient? Or is he the center of your life, around which everything else revolves? Who do you say that he is? And, maybe more importantly, how will that change your life?
(Image: The niches and cave at Caesarea Phillipi, courtesy of Jeanne Branch)
