Most of us are familiar with the TV games who want to be a millionaire, or deal or no deal? It all depends on the right answer and right choice you make. Your future will totally change, if you have the right answer.
Jesus posed a question to Peter at Caesarea Philippi, where multiple temples were dedicated to various pagan gods and one among them, a most beautiful temple was dedicated to Caesar (built by Herod the great). Jesus asked the disciples: “who do you say that I am?” Peter, speaking on behalf of the community, said without any hesitation that they were assured that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus now turns his attention to Peter and confers on him the blessing for the response he gave. Jesus recognizes Peter’s response to be the result of divine revelation and beyond what any human could have known from human knowledge alone.
Let us just look in to the relationship of Jesus’ contemporaries with him. The Pharisees found him as a trouble maker, one who profaned the Sabbath, friend of the sinners’ leader of a small band, a man who expelled demons with the help of Beelzebul. The disciples recognized Jesus as the leader of their group, a future king, a revolutionary and a miracle worker. The demons recognized him as the ‘Son of God’. The common folk had various opinions like; a prophet, miracle worker, healer, teacher, holy man, son of Mary and Joseph, the carpenter’s son, second Moses, Lord and Savior. We can see that all these responses are based on how they related with Jesus. So in our lives too, the answer to the question “who Jesus is” will depend on our relationship with Jesus. He is not asking to hear about the public opinion, instead he is inviting each one of us to make a profession of faith in Him that will change our lives and will result in a lifetime commitment for the kingdom of God.
“See to your affairs faithfully, but be conscious all the time that the affair which matters most is that of your salvation and that of directing your soul’s salvation into the way of true devotion.” St. Francis de Sales