Matthew 16:15-16 – [Jesus] said to [the disciples], “But who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Over the years I’ve had a variety of identifications – drivers licenses from five states, business cards from several jobs, and a student id from multiple institutions. All of these featured my name, some had a photo, and, except for the licenses, they gave an identification of my status as an employee or student. When we meet someone for the first time, we often talk about how we spend our days, including what we do for a living, or did for those who may be retired. What we do is a part of who we are. Our identity is connected to how we spend our time.

People were forming opinions of Jesus through their observations and through what others were saying. Jesus asked his disciples how other people were identifying him. They responded, “some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (v14). Those responses seem strange to us; how could Jesus be any of these? In Mark 6, Herod assumes Jesus is John the Baptist after hearing about what Jesus was doing. Malachi 4 includes a promise of God sending Elijah “before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” Ideas of Jeremiah or another prophet have less evidence to support them, but we can infer that they arose by expanding from the Malachi promise to include other prophets.

The disciples, especially Peter, have a different idea. Jesus is beyond a prophet, more than a man of miracles. He is more than the works that he was doing or the words he spoke. He was, and is, the Christ, the Son of the living God! His identity is known through his works but made known through the work of God. Jesus blesses Peter, saying, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father.” On that Rock – the confession voiced by the one named “Little Rock” (v18) – he has built his church. Now we can be identified as more than the jobs that we do (or did) but as followers of the Christ, the Son of God.