What a pity that we so rarely, I think, ask ourselves this question today; who is Jesus Christ to me? If we thought about it more often, our lives would look different.
Sometimes a provocation is needed to ask such questions. Jesus did it directly. First, He asked about popular opinions, about the so-called human talk. You can clearly see how superficial and unreliable it is. People are always looking for sensation. If a gossip is fancier and less plausible, the more it listens and spreads more easily. This is probably not a coincidence. In this way, by means of basically absurd slander, we release ourselves from responsibility, or at least from a more serious discussion and our own thoughts. It is an easy and cheap way to justify your thoughtlessness, carelessness, stupidity and sins.
Therefore, a mature and wise man never stops at hurdles and human opinions, but tries to form his own opinion and judgement, at least in the most important life issues. There is enough data for that. The apostles were especially competent to give a credible answer to the question of the identity of Jesus: they stayed with Him constantly, listened not only to the instructions for the crowds, but also to the explanations for the initiates, they saw and knew more than others. And here’s Simon’s correct answer. But it was not just the result of human observation and deduction. Simon’s statement was a confession of faith having its source in God. This fundamental belief was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Simon said this without being fully aware of what he was saying. He uttered the formula without fully understanding of its meaning. In fact, we’ll never fully understand it. We are limited in understanding, but all the more we can and should trust in our faith. Simon, and then Peter, is the embodiment of this faith, he is the rock to which the Church constantly refers, because God Himself gave Peter this function.
But then should we appeal to this confession, since it is not our own, since it can only be regarded as someone else’s opinion? Isn’t the uncritical repetition of Peter’s sentence also the reproduction of gossip and human talk? It’s just that it shouldn’t be. We would refer not only to the repetition of words from 2000 years ago, but that we explore these words, look for their meaning – first original, and then modern, related to our lives. This process of seeking understanding is also inspired by the Holy Spirit. And it is He who guarantees us the credibility of our knowledge, and the Church watches over us so that we do not go astray.