Who Do You Say That I Am
- Deacon Dan DeLuca
- Sep 23, 2022
- 5 min read
Today we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Pius (Pio) of Pietrelcina. Padre Pio, as he is commonly called, was a Franciscan Capuchin priest. He was known to be a very holy and humble man of God. Padre Pio bore the Stigmata, the wounds of Christ, for 50 years. He underwent intense scrutiny, at the hands of Church officials, as his fame spread. It is appropriate that, on his feast day, the Gospel reading is Peter’s profession of faith. Just like Peter, Padre Pio knew who Jesus was.
Peter’s Declaration about Jesus – Luke 9 : 18-22
Now it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him; and he asked them, “Who do the people say that I am?” And they answered, “John the Baptist; but others say, Elijah; and others, that one of the old prophets has risen.” And he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” But he charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Scriptural Analysis
All four of the Gospels have an account of Peter’s profession of faith. In the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) the profession serves as a sort of fulcrum upon which their entire Gospel narrative pivots. The story of Jesus builds to Peter’s confession and then they take off for Jerusalem where Jesus will undergo his passion. Peter’s profession is a momentous moment in the Gospel. Like all big moments, Jesus begins in prayer: in communion with his father. It is curious to note that the text says he was praying alone with the disciples. The original Greek phrase used here, kata monas, does not exclude the disciples from being present. This is also translated in some texts as privately.
Jesus starts his inquiry by first asking the disciples who the world says he is. The same list of names given to Herod when he asked who Jesus was are given here: John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the old prophets. Jesus then turns the question to the disciples, “who do you say that I am.” Peter answer the question correctly stating that Jesus is, “The Christ of God.” Jesus’s true identity had previously been announced by an Angle (Luke 2:11), revealed to Simeon (Luke 2:26) and his identity was understood by demons (Luke 4:41). However, Peter is the first human, in response to the public ministry of Christ, to correctly identify Jesus as the awaited Messiah.
Jesus then gives the disciples a curios command, “tell this to no one.” Why would Jesus want his identity as the Messiah to be hidden? The answer to that lies in the misunderstood expectation that people had for the Messiah. There were numerous ideas of who the Messiah would be, a great military leader, a new Moses, but the identity of the Messiah as the suffering servant was not common among them. However, it is this identity that is key to the mission of the Messiah: to atone for the sinfulness of man. If Jesus was going to be known as the Messiah, it needed to be as the suffering servant and not the other ideas people had.
Jesus then goes on to tell the disciples what it means to be the suffering servant. He must be rejected by the leaders of his own people: those who should have understood the scriptures better than anyone. He must be killed. Then on the 3rd day he would rise from the dead. The verb must is used here to denote that all of this is necessary to fulfill God’s plan. All of what was to transpire, was according to God’s plan. Jesus’s singular mission on earth was to fulfill that plan: nothing else. Therefore, it was important that the Apostles began to understand, at some level, what that meant.
As an opportunity for reflection, it is worth taking a moment to consider Jesus’s heart in this moment. Jesus was both fully human and fully divine so his human heart was likely feeling a bit of anxiousness in this moment. He had spent his public ministry living with his Apostles: teaching them, instructing them, revealing who he was. Did any of them get it? Would any of them respond with some indication that they understand who Jesus was? It is easy to imagine the joy that must have entered Jesus’s heart when he heard Peter’s response.
Practical Application
In today’s Saint we are given an example of someone who confidently could say who Jesus was. Padre Pio knew Jesus. In sharing in the wounds of Jesus, Padre Pio knew him in a way that most of us will never know Jesus this side of heaven. Yet even Padre Pio had to answer this question, who do you say that I am, and he had to answer it each and every day. When he was being prohibited from saying Mass publicly, he had to answer that questions. When his stigmata was being investigated, he had to answer that question. He had to continually answer that question because only in the certainty of knowing the answer could he continue to be humble, faithful, obedient.
We often think answering the question of Jesus’s identity is a one time thing. I confess who Jesus is once and then it is smooth sailing from there. That is not the case. We must answer who Jesus is daily: sometimes multiple times through the course of the day. When you are tempted to sin and you refuse, you answer who Jesus is. When it is 2:30 in the morning and your baby is crying and all you want to do is finally get some rest, yet you selflessly tend to her, you answer who Jesus is. Every time you make the choice, a choice to live the Gospel, to serve, you answer who Jesus is.
Just like Peter, we don’t understand fully Jesus’s identity. Our understanding grows throughout our entire life as we continue to grow in relationship with him. Yet we will only truly understand who Jesus is when we behold the beatific vision. Yet we continue to answer, “You are the Christ of God.” Then we follow him. We follow him in humble service just as Padre Pio did.
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