8-17-26 - Who Is Jesus?

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

It’s a mid-course check-in. Jesus has collected a community of followers. He has healed hundreds, fed thousands, forgiven, blessed, released and taught. But does anyone know who he really is? Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Jesus used the title “Son of Man” to refer to himself. This mystery has given biblical scholars plenty to chew on through the millennia. It is a title that appears often in the Hebrew Bible, mostly in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, where it does not suggest divine identity. It might be a title of humility, as well as humanity. In effect he was asking his closest associates, “What are people saying about me?”

Their answers reflected the recent or distant past. Jesus was regarded as a prophet in the mold or even a personification of Elijah or Jeremiah or another of the great prophets of ancient Israel. Some thought he had taken on the mantle of John the Baptist. Then Jesus probed a bit deeper. “Never mind what other people think – who do you say that I am, you who have lived with me and walked with me, trained with me and prayed with me. Do you recognize the fullness of who I am?”

Peter gives an answer which pleases Jesus, which we'll explore tomorrow. Today let’s take the question as directed at us: Who do you say that Jesus is? A role model? A great teacher? A healer? Savior? Prophet? God incarnate?
Try to separate your answer from what you’ve been taught all your life.

We could go deeper, ask the question another way:
How have you experienced Jesus? Who is he to you?

If he’s just a character in a book, a figure from a painting or stained glass window with a bubble around his head, I invite you to explore his “living-ness.” It’s a big claim we make as Christians, that our Lord who died over 2,000 years ago rose again and is accessible to us through His Spirit. We can know him in prayer, in action, in worship, in the sacraments. How do you know him? How would you like to?

Talk to him. Who does he say he is when you ask him?

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.