Our reputation is an important feature of our lives, and rightly so. We gain our reputation, good or bad, by what we do and what we say. Our reputation is the perception others have of us rather than how we see ourselves. In that sense, it is a kind of social currency used in many different contexts (Milinski, 2015). It provides a way for others to decide about our trustworthiness and to predict our behavior. A good reputation opens doors, while a bad one closes them.
No wonder Jesus asks his disciples two questions about his own reputation. The first question—Who do people say that I am—is rather ordinary even if a bit odd. It seems odd because, by this time, the disciples had seen the large crowds gather as Jesus went around teaching his message of love and salvation. They saw his deep concern for the poor and the oppressed, and how he included sinners and outcasts in his inner circle of friends. They were there the many times Jesus engineered a successful challenge to the cruel hypocrisy of the Pharisees. By this time, the disciples had also witnessed Jesus heal many people of their ailments, forgive their sins, walk on water, drive out demons, and raise the dead to life. So, why would Jesus ask the disciples a question they could answer with ease?
This first question is a simple prelude that requires very little of the disciples beyond reporting the known facts, much like reporting the results of a political poll. The answer thus requires the disciples to reveal nothing about what they themselves believe about Jesus. Nor does this question call for a commitment on their part to Jesus or to his way of life. The second question, however, requires something much more substantial.
The second question—who do YOU say that I am—poses a serious challenge to the disciples because it compels a choice on their part. From this moment on, the disciples can no longer remain aloof. They must decide right then and there what they personally believe about Jesus. The question calls for a commitment to Jesus. Thus, how the disciples answer will determine their future relationship with him. Their answer will establish who they are in relation to Jesus. Jesus knows that his time with the disciples is nearing an end, and for that reason, they must decide then and there who they believe Jesus is and how they will relate to him.
When Jesus asks them, Who do you say that I AM, the disciples surely recalled the many times Jesus made statements that point to his divinity—I am the bread of life; I am the resurrection and the life; and other such claims. No wonder Peter says in answer to the second question, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Mt 16:16). With this response, Peter affirms that Jesus is in relationship with God, and that this relationship is the essence of who Jesus is, the essence of his being. It follows that, if Jesus is in relationship with God, and the disciples are in relationship with Jesus, then they too share his relationship with God. In a literal sense, they are the brothers of Jesus, the Son of God.
Jesus affirms this mutual relationship when he teaches the disciples to begin their prayer with the words, “Our Father.” This greeting shows the disciples that they are in relationship with the Father and with each other in one spiritual family, just as Jesus is one with the Father and they with him.
Jesus asks the disciples these two questions while times are good to prepare them for the bad times ahead. Later, the disciples will have no time for reflection about such questions. In this sense, Jesus tries to convey the urgency of Isaiah’s warning, “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near” (Is 55:6). Jesus knows that his disciples will need to rely on more than what others say about Him. The disciples will need a personal commitment to Jesus and faith in him and in each other to overcome the challenges and threats that are about to unfold.
Jesus asks the same two questions of us for the same reason. The answer to the first question may be easy enough for us as it was for those first disciples. Our answer to the second question, however, is as challenging and as revealing for us as it was for the early disciples. It is not enough for us to repeat what others say about Jesus. Our answer to the second question reveals who we believe Jesus is and who we believe we are in relation to him and to each other. It is a question that we cannot avoid answering, no matter how or when we choose to answer.
Jesus indicates his expectations in that regard when he teaches the disciples how to pray. The Lord’s Prayer provides a summary of how we are to conduct ourselves in relationship with him, and in turn, in our relationship with God and with each other. To say “Our Father” is to proclaim and acknowledge first and foremost that we are all children of God. This prayer unites all of us in the same spiritual family with the same relationship to one another in God, equally loved by God without exception and without exclusion. There is simply no other way to answer the second question, and no other answer will give us a better reputation.
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