"But who do you say that I am?"

Maybe the most important question about Jesus is what my Lord asked after the disciples forgot to bring bread. He was talking about what the Pharisees and Sadducees were teaching, and that's almost another topic.

"He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' "
(Matthew 16:15)

Peter said that Jesus was the Messiah.¹

It wasn't until later that Peter and the others learned just what being the Messiah meant.

The King Who Serves

Jesus is the sort of king who comes down and gets personally involved. His mission was to serve: to sort out the mess left by humanity's original disobedience.

That brings up the idea of original sin: which isn't believing that God created a thoroughly nasty, evil, messed-up collection of losers called human beings.

The Catholic understanding of original sin involves the idea that cause and effect exist. I've been over that before. (July 11, 2012)

It's one thing for a ruler to say 'I really care,' sign a proclamation, or appoint a commission to study some threat.

What Jesus did was to step between me and death: and die in my place. Something like that I won't forget. (August 1, 2012)

Here's part of what the Church says:

"Jesus accepted Peter's profession of faith, which acknowledged him to be the Messiah, by announcing the imminent Passion of the Son of Man.⁴⁰ He unveiled the authentic content of his messianic kingship both in the transcendent identity of the Son of Man 'who came down from heaven,' and in his redemptive mission as the suffering Servant: 'The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'⁴¹ Hence the true meaning of his kingship is revealed only when he is raised high on the cross.⁴² Only after his Resurrection will Peter be able to proclaim Jesus' messianic kingship to the People of God: 'Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.'⁴³"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 440)

Related posts:

• Original Sin
  • "Cain, Abel, and Ketchup"
    (July 18, 2012)
  • "Original Sin and the Unfairness of Gravity"
    (July 11, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Original Sin
  • "The Power to Hurt: Or Help"
    (June 27, 2012)
  • "Original Sin, Consequences, and Bootstraps"
    (June 13, 2012)
  • "5th Sunday of Lent 2009: A Reflection"
    (April 5, 2009)
• Jesus
  • "Jesus, an Old Assumption, and 15 Minutes of Fame"
    (October 3, 2012)
  • " 'Blessed are You Who Believed' "
    (December 21, 2011)
  • "The Road to Emmaus, and Rome, and Sauk Centre, and - - -"
    (May 8, 2011)
  • "The Man Who Wouldn't Stay Dead"
    (March 11, 2012)
  • "Just Who is This Jesus Person, and
    Who Does He Think He is?"
    (January 17, 2010)
• Salvation
  • " 'Life is here, Love is here, Challenge is here. ... The choice is ours' "
    (September 1, 2012)
  • "Jesus, a Promise, and Decisions"
    (August 1, 2012)
  • "Battling Sin, Living in Hope"
    (July 25, 2012)
    Particularly
    • "To Dust You Shall Return:" Humility and Salvation
  • "Being Saved, the Narrow Gate, and All That"
    (October 26, 2011)
  • "Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, and Warm Fuzzies"
    (August 8, 2010)

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¹ Peter's answer to "But who do you say that I am?"

"¹¹ Simon Peter said in reply, 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.'

"Jesus said to him in reply, 'Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood ¹² has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

"And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, ¹³ and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

"I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. ¹⁴ Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.'

"¹⁵ Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah.

"¹⁶ From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he ¹⁷ must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.

"¹⁸ Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, 'God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.'

"He turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.' "
(Matthew 16:16-23)