Reputation is an important feature of our lives. Our reputation is the perception others have of us, rather than how we see ourselves. It follows that our reputation depends on, and is determined by, what we say and do. It serves as a kind of social currency used in many different contexts (Milinski, 2015). Our reputation 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 about his own reputation. His first question—Who do people say that I am—is easy enough to answer. 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 challenged the cruel hypocrisy of the Pharisees. By now, the disciples had witnessed Jesus heal many people, forgive their sins, walk on water, drive out demons, and raise the dead to life. So, why would Jesus ask a question the disciples could answer with ease?
The question is easy to answer because it does not require the disciples to reveal anything about what they personally feel and believe about Jesus. Nor does this question call for a commitment on their part to Jesus or to his way of life. The question simply requires the disciples to repeat what others have said about Jesus, and not much else. Their answer is much like reporting the results of a survey or political poll.
In a sense, this first question serves as prelude to the next question that will be harder to answer because it calls for something more substantial. The second question—who do YOU say that I am—compels a choice. The question itself creates a decisive moment beyond which the disciples can no longer remain aloof. They must decide right then and there what they personally think and believe about Jesus. In other words, the question calls for a commitment.
For that reason, how the disciples answer will determine both their future relationship with Jesus, and who they are in relation to him. Jesus knows that his time with the disciples is nearing an end. For that reason, they must decide once and for all who they believe Jesus is and how they will relate to him. They must decide what Jesus means to them.
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. With these two questions, 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 solid faith in him, and in each other, to overcome the violence and threats to life and limb that are about to unfold.
Jesus asks the same two questions of us for the same reasons. The answer to the first question may be easy enough for us to answer as it was for those first disciples. Our answer to the second question, however, is as challenging and 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 formalize our answer.
Jesus indicates his expectations regarding our answer when he teaches his disciples the Lord’s Prayer. With this prayer, Jesus provides a framework for how we are to conduct ourselves in our relationship with him, with God, and with each other. To say “Our Father” is to acknowledge and proclaim first and foremost that we are all children of God. We all belong to the same spiritual family in and through Jesus Christ, with an equal relationship to one another. We are all equally loved by God, the apple of his eye, without exception and without exclusion (Zech 2:12; Ps 17:8).
In turn, Jesus expects us to live out this spiritual unity by loving God and loving others with trust and faith. There is no better way to answer the second question, who do you say that I am, than by expressing our belief in this divine unity of love. No other answer will give us a better reputation.
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