You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) While we might wish Jesus walked around with a nametag, “Jesus Christ, the Messiah, son of the living God,” so that we all might know unequivocally who he is and what he has come to do, Jesus prefers to show us rather than tell us. Jesus has spent the first half of this gospel doing just that: through his teaching and healing and casting out demons and dining with outcasts, he has shown the disciples and us who he is.  Now, he asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”

Peter speaks up first, and answers with what I can only assume is unequivocal confidence. “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.”

We can’t know what Peter was thinking in that moment. I sort of imagine that his life with Jesus flashed before his eyes. He found himself back at his mother-in-law’s bedside when she was sick with a fever, and he remembers the feeling of relief and shock as Jesus simply touched her hand and the fever left her. He felt the chilling silence on the boat after Jesus commanded the wind to stop.  He is transported back to the tables where he shared meals with people he wasn’t supposed to talk to much less eat with. He remembers being saved by Jesus from drowning in the water after over-confidently stepping out of the boat. Maybe in that split second of being questioned by Jesus, he had his own epiphany moment – a glimpse of clarity – the conviction that these are not discrete, random events but that they all point to one inescapable conclusion: Jesus Christ IS the Messiah, the son of the living God.

At this point in the story, we don’t yet know how this is going to play out. Peter doesn’t yet have any idea what it really means that Jesus is the Messiah – and Peter certainly doesn’t yet have any idea what that will mean FOR Jesus, who will literally go to hell and back to save us.

But Jesus does. Jesus knows exactly what the future holds. Jesus knows what he’s in for. And he knows Peter. He knows that Peter is the one who is confident and certain one minute – “I do it!” and fear-ridden and frantic the next – “Save me!”  And still. Jesus calls Simon Peter – Petros – the rock, and declares that Peter will be the foundation of the church.

Whew. Take that in for a minute. Knowing fully who Peter is, Jesus gives him the keys to the kingdom.

And Jesus does the same for us.

Maybe the good news of this passage is less about Peter’s confession about who Jesus is and more about Jesus’ insistence about who we are.

We are fickle. We wander. We believe we can do everything on our own. And still, Jesus calls us to follow. Still, Jesus wants us to tell his story. Still, Jesus insists that we are the ones through whom others will come to know God’s love and grace and mercy. Not because we are perfect. But because God has never demanded perfection. God sent Jesus Christ – our Messiah – the son of the living God – to show us just how loved we are. And Jesus calls us to share that good news with the world.