Jesu Juva
St. Matthew 16:13-20
August 23, 2026
Proper 16A
Dear saints of our Savior,
“Who do you say that I am?”
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
This question and answer is foundational to the Christian faith. Christ is how we know God; and Christ is how we know man; and we Christians proclaim both to a world that knows neither. Our pastors and missionaries proclaim the true God with boldness amid all the idols of this age. And our ministries of mercy proclaim true man with boldness amid every dehumanizing force.
This Q and A between Jesus and the Twelve is a unique moment in our Lord's earthly ministry. There’s nothing else quite like it anywhere else in the gospels. At what other time does Jesus sit the disciples down, look them in the eye, and ask: What do you guys think? Let me hear what you’ve got to say. Or, take the unique setting of this Q and A: the district of Caesarea Philippi. What does that matter? Why do the evangelists bother to include that geographic detail? Well, this may have been the farthest from Jerusalem that Jesus ever roamed. It was about 25 miles north of the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee. As the name, Caesarea, would indicate, the Roman Emperor was venerated there. But the entire region was replete with religions and idols and ideologies. Jesus had taken the Twelve deep into a territory filled with a diversity of deities, to reveal Himself as the Son of the living God.
Jesus’ question and Peter’s answer must lead us also to confess with clarity that Jesus is God—that He alone is the way, the truth, and the life—the one Mediator between God and men—who gave Himself as a ransom for all men. And we Christians make that good confession concerning the Christ in a world not unlike the region of Caesarea Philippi. We live in a brave, new world—a world where the idols are no longer easily recognized or defined.
Our idols are seen most clearly whenever we look in the mirror. Who do I love more than me? Who do you love more than you? In our worst moments we are dead-set on making ourselves gods in the place of God, making our own laws to live by—on a constant quest for power, for pleasure, for control. And all this while we signal our virtue and align ourselves with whatever it takes to be popular.
Jesus’ question and Peter’s answer must continually call us to repentance. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus is God, and we are not. But . . .who are we? Who do you say I am? Who does Jesus say I am? Who does the church say I am? What does the humanity of Jesus mean . . . for humanity?
Who do you say people are? For if Jesus Christ is God and Lord, that says as much about us as it does about Him. With Jesus at the center, we can know our place. We know where we stand. And we know where we stand in relation to our fellow human beings—or, as Jesus called them: the least, the lowly, and the lost.
Who are we? We have received an identity that no one can take away. Note that carefully: Your identity is given to you, not chosen by you. We are created by God and made in God’s image. That creative work—that core of our identity—begins in the womb. Who do you say that is in the womb? The womb is where life begins—where it all began for all of us. Who do you say is there, in the womb? Demonic voices declare that what resides in the womb is an unwanted inconvenience—an obstacle, an accident, or just medical waste to be burned.
But we who confess that Jesus is the Son of the living God—we know—we know that the womb is the first home of every human baby. The womb was the first home of the Lord Jesus! In the womb is life from God. Those unborn babies deserve to draw their first breath. They deserve love and protection. They deserve a mother and a father. And, dare I say, it’s not enough to quietly believe that—to silently assent to what the preacher is saying. When Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” silence is not an option. How differently the gospels would read if Peter had just sat on his hands and kept his mouth shut for once. But Peter speaks and confesses what he has been given, and so must we. We must neither be silent, nor silenced.
We too must confess. We must speak out against abortion, and against every demonic ideology that seeks to rob us of our God-given identity. Any belief system—any ideology that diminishes our humanity, or distorts our humanity, or degrades our humanity, is an assault on the humanity of Jesus, who was made to be like us in every way yet without sin, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. We confess: Male and female He created them. We confess: Marriage should be honored by all. We confess: Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s. (Jesus is God; Caesar is not.)
Our task in the church is to confess. Our task is to tell people who Jesus is; and to tell people who they really are in relation to Jesus. The world, of course, doesn’t want to hear it. The world says, that’s just your religion (as if anything religious can be immediately disregarded). But how much religious fervor does it take to believe that a man can become a woman, or that a woman can marry a woman? Start disregarding religious beliefs because they are religious and soon enough you are left with nothing.
But we in the Christian faith have been given everything. We know. We know because it has been revealed to us. We have been given the faith to believe it: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He died. He rose. He lives! That truth changes everything. That truth orders the universe. That truth brings into submission all the forces of chaos. And so, we must continue to confess it.
This is what we have been given to do, as surely as Peter piped up at the question posed by Jesus. We take no pride in this. We don’t boast about this. Nor do we apologize for this. This has been given to us. Here we stand; we can do no other, God help us.
And so we in the church of Jesus Christ must never stop confessing. We will never stop answering that most foundational question of identity. We will never stop proclaiming the gospel answer that has been revealed to us from heaven. We answer anyone and everyone, from the greatest to the very least: We claim one and all for the human family.
Who are you? You are created by God. Your life is no accident, no random quirk of evolution. Your life is by divine design.
Who are you? In Christ you are redeemed. You are died for. You are loved. Jesus Christ has answered for your sin by His death on the cross. By faith He is restoring in you His divine image, making you truly human—destined not for destruction, but for resurrection.
Who are you? You are a son of the living God. You are a daughter of the living God.
Upon this rock the Lord is building His church, as the gates of hell rage impotently on.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
