As human beings, sometimes we become fascinated on what everyone else thinks – whether that’s opinions on political candidates, the direction of our government, the important social issues of our day, the responses to various situations and circumstances, the decisions of Church leaders. We all just want to know what people think. So often, we get those answers from opinion polls. They’re especially popular right now with the upcoming presidential election and we’re going to see even more of those in the coming months.

In today’s Gospel, we see an opinion poll being taken by someone that maybe we never thought would take one: Jesus. In this encounter with His disciples, Jesus is asking the question: “who do people say that I am?” In a sense, Jesus is trying to gauge if His message is reaching the hearts of the people that He has encountered. He is trying to determine if people are beginning to recognize who He truly is, if they understand His mission, His purpose. And so, He asks His dedicated followers, His closest friends.

The disciples tell Him what the people are thinking. Some people think He is Elijah or one of the other prophets; others think that He might be John the Baptist who has come back from the dead. I’m sure others had said that Jesus was a healer or a miracle worker or a Rabbi or some other title. And, at first glance, based on those responses, it’s pretty obvious, that people don’t yet understand Jesus’ identity, they haven’t yet been able to fully grasp who He is. But then Jesus does something interesting. He then turns the question to His apostles: “But who do you say that I am?”

That very question marks kind of a turning point for them. Let’s go a little deeper here. Think about it…the apostles have been following Jesus from the beginning of His public ministry. They had come to recognize that there was something different about the message He was preaching, that there was something different about Him. Then they became witnesses to the many miracles Jesus was performing, the healings of different people that were taking place, the feeding of thousands. But, on the flip side of that, they also had witnessed people like the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees all challenging Jesus, questioning His motives and intentions, rebuking Him for causing chaos and confusion amongst the Jewish people, and asking Him for a sign from Heaven. So now, after all of that, Jesus wants to know if His friends have gotten the message, if His closest followers were able to see through all of it and grasp, even if just in a small way, who He is, what His true identity is.

The question that Jesus asks His apostles is the most important one in the life of a Christian. It’s really the only question that matters in a person’s life. Who do we say that Jesus is? Do we truly know Him? Have we come to recognize that He is God, that the things He has done throughout history, the things He has done in our lives, that those things are a sign of His divinity, His Lordship?

For all of us, the most important thing we can ever do is come to a certain knowledge of who God is, to increase our faith in Him, to go deeper in our personal relationship with the God of the Universe, the Word made flesh who has walked among us. We do that through prayer, through participation in the celebration of the Sacraments, through frequent reception of the Eucharist, through daily reading of Sacred Scripture. We discover that intimate knowledge of God by being members of the Church, gathering as one community to pray, to worship, to give glory to God, to learn with each other about Jesus and the things He has done for us. But it also goes much further than that.

Coming to knowledge of God is not like our knowledge of history, our knowledge of finances, our knowledge of the sciences, or some other subject area. Knowing Him is not just about having information or facts about Him. That’s not enough. We can stand in front of people and share what we know about the Lord, share details about His life, but if we don’t truly know Him, that sharing means nothing. It means nothing. We have to come to a personal knowledge of Jesus, we have to know Him and how He desires to be our Savior, the Lord and King of our hearts.

In our second reading today from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, the Apostle to the Gentiles tells us: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! … How unsearchable his ways.” In other words, our knowledge of God must come from the heart; it must come from a personal relationship that changes everything about how we see ourselves, how we see other people, how we live.  That’s why it’s not enough just to know about Jesus. We have to know Him – directly, personally, intimately.

The question that the Lord asks His disciples in our Gospel is the same question that He is asking us today. It is a question that He asks His disciples in every age: “Who do you say that I am?” It’s meant to challenge us about our own preconceived notions about God; it’s meant to shake us up a bit, opening us to a conversation with the Lord about what is preventing us from knowing Him, what blocks our hearts from encountering Him, what reduces our abilities to see Him for who He truly is. But it is also meant to renew our relationship with Him. The Lord is asking all of us that question: “Who do you say that I am?” We need to give our answer to the One who is asking, the One who is standing in our midst, just as He stood before His apostles.

In the Gospel, Peter responds to that question with a beautiful confession of faith. He says: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Obviously, that’s not something that Peter knew based on the evidence, or the available information, or by looking at Jesus from the outside. It wasn’t a response based on the opinions of others or what someone else said about Jesus. It was a response of true knowledge; it was a gift of deep faith. That’s why Jesus says to him in response: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.”

So, today, the Lord is asking us the question: “Who do you say that I am?” Hear Him pose that question to your heart. What will our response be? Will we be like the crowds and only see Jesus for the things He has accomplished? Will we base our opinion of Jesus on the thoughts of others? Or, will we, like Peter, make that profession of faith, recognizing that Jesus is the Lord; He is the Christ; He is the Messiah; He is the Son of God?

Painting: Christ Handing the Keys to St. Peter by Pietro Perugino (1481-82) Fresco, Cappella Sistina, Vatican. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.