Who do people say that the Son of Man is? You can almost picture the disciples raising their hands like eager students. “Oh, I know. John the Baptist. I know. Elijah. I know. One of the prophets.” But Jesus is not content with a pre-packaged answer. But you, he said, you who have seen and felt and heard and touched, who do you say that I am? It is out of his experience of Jesus that Peter comes up with the correct response. “You are the Christ, the son of the Living God.” This is not a memorized answer from a catechism but a deeply held belief which flowed out of his relationship with Jesus. “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my heavenly father.” Blessed are you, Peter, because you were attentive to the voice of God which was speaking in your heart. Fast forward two thousand years and someone asks you, “Who do you say that Jesus is?” The problem is that if we give the answer that Peter gave, the correct answer, the true answer, it is not the right answer for us. Yes, Jesus is the “Christ, the son of the living God” but we know that answer because that is what people (starting with Peter!) said about him. However, we can’t remain content to repeat someone else’s answer. Who do YOU say that I am? Answering that question in the first person – who I say Jesus is – gets complicated because we usually concentrate on knowing about Jesus instead of knowing Jesus. When we read the Bible we learn about Jesus. When we study the catechism we learn about Jesus. You might even learn a thing or two about Jesus from a sermon! While these kinds of things do help us to understand Jesus another step is called for. We need to meet him.
Sometimes you hear this step called “having a personal relationship with Jesus.” There is one teensy-weensy problem with having a personal relationship with Jesus. He walked the dusty roads of Galilee about twenty centuries ago and we walk the mean streets of Chicago in the year of our Lord which we’d just as soon forget. As church goers we are instructed by the teaching of Jesus. We enjoy the parables of Jesus. We’re awed by the miracles of Jesus. We cringe at the sufferings of Jesus. In coming to know about him all of this is important but I am reminded of a story of a recent convert who was confronted by his unbelieving friend. “So you converted to Christ. You must know a great deal about him. What country did he come from?” I’m not sure. “What kind of clothes did he wear?” I don’t know. “How many sermons did he preach?” Many, I suppose. “You certainly know very little for someone who claims to be converted to Christ.” You are right, the man answered, I am ashamed how little I know about him. But this I do know: three years ago I was a drunk. I was in debt. My family was falling to pieces. My wife and children dreaded my coming home each evening. But since I met Christ I have given up drink and ours is a happy home. All this Christ did for me.
The reason this is possible for the man in the story, the reason it is possible for us to meet Christ is because he lives. On Easter Sunday Jesus not only conquered sin and death he also conquered time. The Risen Jesus does not live merely for Peter and John and Mary Magdalene and the rest. He lives for Augustine in the fifth century and Aquinas in the thirteenth century and Thomas More in the sixteenth century and Martin Luther King in the twentieth century. He lives for Gloria and Cheryl, for Frank and Terrel, and J.J. and Quaneesha. This is not something too mysterious for us. To understand how we encounter the Risen Jesus just think of your own loved ones who are already in glory. My mother is thirty-one years gone and my dad, twenty-six. Yet they are with me. I continue to have a relationship with them. What do you think about this, Mom? What should I do about this, Dad? They are present to me even as I remain in this life and they have preceded me into the next. We meet Jesus in a similar way. He is on the main line as the old spiritual puts it, tell him what you want. Jesus is there for us when we reach out and according to the Andre Crouch song: Can’t nobody do me like Jesus.
I’m reminded of another story. This one concerns a little child who was crying in her bed because of a nightmare. Her mother came in to comfort her and reminded her that she was not alone, that God was with her. The girl answered, “I know God is with me but I need someone with skin on.” Perhaps that is why immediately after Peter’s recognition of Jesus as the Christ, Jesus talks to him about the Church. “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” It’s almost as if Jesus is anticipating that we will need someone with skin on to sustain our relationship with him. Yes, we can come to experience how close Jesus is to us in prayer and with the sacraments. But through the Church, Jesus has skin in the game. Just as the faith of Peter came about through what he could see and feel and touch and hear we too come to meet Jesus not in mystical flight but live and in person in the people woven into our lives. If you have the eyes to see you will meet Jesus today: perhaps in receiving communion or talking with your neighbor or working at the food pantry or helping someone in your family or calling up someone who is sick or playing with a child or loving your spouse or saying your prayers or texting a friend or …. Jesus is here right now. Did you meet him?