Jesus asked an important question at that time. It is just as important for us to answer it today. “Who do you say I am?”
It is easy for us to tell people who we think they are. Getting to know who somebody is takes time and effort. We need to spend time with a person, listen to them, talk to them, ask their opinions, be vulnerable,
and experience the good and bad of who they are.
We can easily label Jesus in the way the people did then, as a healer, teacher and preacher. But who do we say Jesus is? We are called to reflect on our image of God, in the person of Jesus to answer. Without an intimate understanding and relationship with God, without an experience of God’s unwavering love and grace, it is nearly impossible to know the true Jesus.
Peter answered that Jesus was the Messiah. The correct answer by all accounts. Was this as a result of his personal knowledge and encounters with Jesus? Or was he giving the expected answer?
Who is Jesus to you? What is your image of God? Reflect on how this image has developed; what experiences have influenced this image?
Reflections by Gillian Hugo
