Halfway through the Gospel story, something rather dramatic takes place. Jesus has been born, has grown up, has been baptized, commissioned, and tempted by the Devil himself.
He has gathered together an eccentric and peculiar group of men to be his disciples. He has begun teaching the ways of God, and he has begun to work miracles left and right, and here, halfway through the the middle of the Gospel, Jesus has asked his disciples the most important question anyone can be asked, including you, yourselves. Jesus has asked them, “Who do you say that I am?”
Peter, good ol' Peter — impetuous, foot in his mouth, walk on water in amazing faith only to sink like a rock seconds later — good ol' Peter is the first to say it. He is the first to believe it. He is the first to blurt it out, the statement that every teenage confirmation kid has been compelled and driven and encouraged to say ever since, for 2,000 years now.
Who are you, Jesus? “Why, you are the Christ, the Messiah — the Son of the Living God!”
Yes, this is what Peter said, not of his own accord, mind you, for Jesus told him “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but (rather) my Father in heaven.” Something here has happened. Something has changed. Something is different. Peter has been given the gift of faith; it is granted to him. It is bestowed upon him.
And note: This is not faith in the evolution and development and advancement of humankind. This is not faith in his woman, or his boss, or his buddies, or in his retirement plan, or in some newly elected government that is somehow going to "save the day," no. But it is faith specifically in the “man” standing before him: This Jesus of Nazareth, now elevated by the eyes of faith to a new status, a new understanding: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Yes, Peter has said it, and make no mistake, he believes it.
It is for us to follow suit. Can we be bold, like Peter, and say it from mountains high and valleys low, or wherever we might be?
“Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
