Rochester, MN UCC - "What is He to You?" - Matthew 16:13-20

There’s an old Bill Withers song that my brother and I loved growing up called, “Who is He and What is He to You.” In the song Bill Withers has seen his girlfriend around town with another man and so he asks the double question in the chorus, “Who is he and what is he to you?” 

 This is essentially the same set of questions that Jesus asks Peter in Caesarea Philippi in this week’s text from Matthew. Jesus first asks, “Who do people say that I am?” To this Peter gives several answers - “"Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." Jesus gives no comment on these answers. Instead, he makes the question more personal, “And who do you say that I am?” 

 Peter’s response to this question goes above and beyond what the others are saying; to him Jesus is nothing less than the prophesied Messiah and the very Son of God. In the text this confession makes Peter the foundation of the church. In subsequent history the impassioned defense of this confession, and the desire to never make too little of Jesus Christ, create the foundational doctrines and universal creeds of the early church. The church across millennia has claimed Jesus as Son of God, Messiah, Savior, Word of God, and very God. 

 To name the confession of the church however, may only be to answer the first of Bill Withers questions, “Who is he?” There remains the second, and far more impactful question, “What is he to you?” This is the reason to come to church, to pray, to study scripture, to wrestle with your doubts- this very question- “What is Jesus Christ to you?” Do you know him as a historical personage? Do you know him as a friend? As a Savior? Can you come to trust in him as God, as beginning and end, as the Wisdom and Word of God? Wrestling with these questions is a lifelong journey and it is rarely a linear one. There is one pattern that I have noticed however. Typically, those who make the most of Jesus Christ, who open themselves up to the highest and greatest possible answers to the question of “What is he to you?” typically those people have deep and rewarding relationships with Jesus Christ. May we all open ourselves to greater and deeper relationship with Jesus Christ as we wrestle with our own answers to the Lord’s question to Peter, “And who do you say that I am?”

 Rev. Andrew Greenhaw

 (Link to the Bill Withers song: Bill Withers - Who Is He (And What Is He to You)? (Official Audio)