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Karen Hollis | August 23, 2026 13th Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 16:13-20 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Let us pray . . . May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
So, Jesus asks us: Who do you say that I am? I invite you to reflect in silence for a moment on how that question lands with you. Does it draw you in or confuse you or irritate you or does it just kind of float on by without engagement?
In my line of work, I think about this question a lot, but I think I have answered this question differently in different seasons of my life. I remember this a “Life of Jesus” movie that always seemed to be playing on tv. As we watched, my sister and I wondered to each other, do you think Jesus was a real person of history? Yeah, I think so, we decided.
In my early 20’s I think would have said he was a teacher about God and how to live well. I was much more engaged with who he was as a human, though it never occurred to me to distinguish human from divine. Then I read a Marcus Borg book and learned about the difference between the pre-Easter and post-Easter Jesus. Pre-Easter is Jesus the human, Rabbi, activist, healer. The post-Easter Jesus is the one who appears in mysterious ways to disciples and others, both in scripture and through history.
When I went to seminary, my world exploded with different Jesuses: Jesus of the gospels, but then you can break it down further because he is depicted differently in each one. Borg, John Dominic Crossan and others have explored scripture and the context of first century Palestine to find the historical Jesus, the human, the man about whom these stories were written. Richard Rohr teaches about the Universal Christ, the Logos, the Primordial Template that existed long before the person of Jesus, through which all things came into being.1 Rohr affirms that the Universal Christ is everywhere, for “everything visible, without exception, is the outpouring of God.”2
So, as I change, the answer to Jesus’ question changes. Who we say he is has everything to do with who we are and our particular context. The answer to this simple question has many, many layers.
In the text alone, Jesus is referred to with 3 different terms. First, Son of Man, which simply means “human.” The next term is Messiah, which is a Hebrew word, meaning Anointed One. And this has a very specific meaning in Judaism. The anointed one is set apart to bring justice and freedom from oppression back to the Jewish people. In Greek, Messiah translates as Christ. In Christianity, the Jewish meaning still applies, though added to it is this broader understanding that Christ is the one who offers wholeness and liberation to all people. The final term for Jesus in this text is Son of the Living God, which is mentioned as a kind of an elaboration on Messiah, but it means something completely different. Son of the Living God refers to the divinity of Jesus, his place in the trinity in the role of the Son. So, in this text alone, Jesus is described as human, anointed to an important purpose, and expression of the divine here on earth.
From the time of his life, death, and resurrection, people have been telling stories about who he is and the ways he has touched our lives. I invite you to begin thinking about who Jesus is for you or the Jesus you connect with as I lead us through further exploration of this question through images.
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Who do we say Jesus is? Is he human, is he the historical Jesus or a kind of synthesis of historical and scriptural? Is he a presence of love that never leaves your side? Is he support and grounding and strength?
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Is your belief about Jesus connected to your culture? Every culture depicts Jesus in their own context, it’s just human to do so. These depictions of the cross come from places like Africa and South America. European depictions are much more familiar to us, because in the 15th Century, European painters began depicting biblical stories in the contemporary setting of their day. Bibles weren’t available, so this artistic approach allowed people to be able to step into the stories and experience them first-hand. This was the original intent, anyway . . . colonizers took the idea way too far by forcing the Caucasian Christ, better known these days as “white Jesus” on other cultures as the authentic depiction. So, there’s also some cultural baggage or sore spots for us as we consider who we say Jesus is.
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Here are some more depictions of Jesus from different cultures. These ones perhaps communicate the possible aspects of Jesus’ character. What is the character of your Jesus? Does he pour out his heart for you, is he welcoming and embracing, is he intense, is he queer, is he invitational?
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These colourful depictions of Jesus all come from different centuries. The two on the sides are pre-6th century and the middle is quite modern. These bring up new questions about Jesus: is he formal or personal? static or dynamic? Does he exist in history or is he incarnate in the world today?
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Or is Jesus beyond humanity, beyond gender, and more like the source of all that is good and creative and magical in all of creation? Perhaps the answer to this question is simple for you or maybe it challenges you to hold gently a multiplicity of truths.
I’m curious as to what is resonating or stirring in you . . . who do you say Jesus is? (what do you need from him?)
I see the shape of Jesus with arms outstretched in various places. Less of a crucifix and more of a loving embrace. My mind will take shapes in the room and fill in Jesus. He’s always there.
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Here in the United Church we collectively proclaim our faith in Jesus through a New Creed.
We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
This is a shared creed that we proclaim together as a congregation and a national church, though individually our belief in Jesus may differ from this a little or a lot. I wonder if you were to write your own personal creed, what of this would be included? And what is missing? Would you express your creed in images, in words, in sounds? What is the core of what you believe about Jesus or Love or Goodness? I invite you into a few moments of silence, before Marni begins to play, to consider your own personal creed, your own personal belief about Jesus. Perhaps jot down a few notes on your bulletin or on your phone, maybe 2 or 3 lines describing the core of what you believe. What of A New Creed would you include and what for you is missing?
1 Universal Christ, 13
2 Ibid.