Who is the Son of Man?

Matthew 16:13

¹³ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

Lately I’ve watched a couple of movies where the question: “Who are you?” comes up at a critical point in the story. Usually it’s one of those tales where a lone hero finally confronts the leader of the bad guys. The villain, suddenly realising that he is going to be on the receiving end of justice at the hands of the hero, asks: “Who are you?”

It’s a question about identity – and about power.
Who is this person who has suddenly changed everything?

In this week’s Gospel reading Jesus turns the question around.
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

The title “Son of Man” itself carries an important biblical echo. In the Old Testament book of Daniel (see chapter 7), “one like a son of man” comes before God and receives authority, glory and an everlasting kingdom.

But this allusion seems to be largely missed, at least initially, by the disciples.

They quickly report what everyone else is saying about Jesus.

Some say John the Baptist.
Others Elijah.
Others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

There are plenty of opinions out there.

But Jesus is not especially interested in taking an opinion poll.

He turns to the disciples and makes the question personal:
“But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answers:
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus affirms Peter, but also gives glory to God. It is God who has enabled Peter to make that good confession.

Peter’s frailty is still a very present reality however.

Almost immediately we discover that Peter does not yet understand what his own answer fully means. He’s not clear at all on what kind of Messiah Jesus is come to be.

The Gospel will continue straight on this Sunday with an account of how Jesus begins to explain that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be rejected, be killed, and on the third day be raised.

But Peter can’t cope with this.
Messiah and suffering simply do not belong together in his mind.

The Holy Spirit is certainly leading Peter, but he’s still ‘on the way’ as regards having the full picture about Jesus and what kind of messiah Jesus is.

Peter’s story has relevance to us of course.
It is not how we would like to define Jesus that matters.
It is how Jesus reveals (defines) himself that counts.

We too can have our preferred versions of Jesus.
Jesus the powerful fixer, the moral example, the spiritual guru, the political champion – take your pick!

Jesus, the one who will make everything work out the way we think it should.
Jesus, the one who will bless our plans, defend our interests and defeat the people we think need defeating.

But Jesus refuses to be squeezed into those moulds.

He really is the mighty Son of God.

He really is the one who comes to set things right.

But he does it in a way that turns our usual ideas about power upside down.

This takes me back to the movie heroes I mentioned.

Mostly, they overcome evil by being more powerful than the evil confronting them – and by using their power in ways that we recognize as powerful.

They hit harder.
They shoot straighter.
They overpower – and even kill – the enemy.

Jesus chooses another way.
Paul writes in Romans 12:21:
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

That is the way Jesus walks.
When he is arrested, he refuses the sword.
When he is mocked, he does not retaliate.
When he is nailed to the cross, he does not use his power for self-preservation.
Jesus’ strength is revealed precisely in his willingness to lay that strength down.

He overcomes hatred without becoming hateful.
He defeats sin by bearing it.
He defeats death by entering it.

And then, on the third day, he rises.
This is the Messiah Peter has confessed.
This is the Son of Man.
This is the Son of the living God.

This is your saviour and mine!

And once we begin to see who Jesus really is, his question becomes even more searching:
“Who do you say that I am?”

Because Christian confession is not simply getting the right words about Jesus.
It also means following the Jesus we have confessed.

And the very next thing Jesus says to his disciples is that if anyone would come after him, they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow.

That is where Peter stumbled.
And that is where we stumble too.

So often we are tempted to follow Jesus while quietly trying to redefine the route.
Actually, we want him to follow us by blessing the direction in which we are already heading.

But discipleship begins, not with what we are going to do for Jesus, but with receiving Jesus as he gives himself to us.

The crucified one.
The risen one.
The one who serves.
The one who gives himself away.

The one who deals with our sin!

And that is also how discipleship continues — not by somehow finding within ourselves enough strength to follow, but by returning again and again to Jesus’ promises.

The good news is that Peter’s failure did not change who Jesus was.
And our failures do not change who Jesus is either.

We will stumble and bumble in our confession and in our following.

But Jesus remains the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
He goes to the cross for us.
He rises for us.
And in baptism he joins us to his death and resurrection, putting our old self to death and raising us again to new life.

So the question comes to us again:

“Who do you say that I am?”
And by faith we answer:

You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God, the Son of Man and the servant King. You are Immanuel, God with us, our Lord and Saviour.

By your grace, keep us following you!