August 23 - “People Say”
People Say
Matthew 16:13-20
Romans 12:1-8
23 August 2026
Rev. Mary Nelson – First Congregational Church UCC of Williamstown MA
By now you all know that scriptural interpretation is sometimes art, sometimes science, sometimes craft… sometimes a little bit of all three. For every reader, there are multiple readings. For every interpreter, there are multiple interpretations. For every question, there are multiple answers, and often more questions. So when you encounter a story with a question at the heart of it, you know to pay attention and keep pursuing that line of thought. How did the question get answered then, and how would we answer it now?
Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And Peter has answers—soooo many answers! But when Jesus asks Peter, “Who do YOU say that I am?” Peter has one answer: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” And we could go down the rabbit hole of theological history to unpack Peter’s response, but that’s not the journey we’re going to take today. Because the next question we need to ask today doesn’t have anything to do with unpacking 3000 years of Jewish theological tradition about what the Messiah is supposed to be or do, or why we might use the terminology of “the Living God,” or what it signifies that the Living God has a Son.
The question that we’re supposed to ask today is, conveniently, one of the unspoken questions that undergirds our discernment sessions this fall: Who do we say that Jesus is? As we think about the ministry of this church and we ask ourselves to imagine the future that God might have in store for us, this question sits at the very core of our quest to figure out who we are and what we’re doing here. Who do we say that Jesus is? Who do we say that we are?
Some people say that he is John the Baptist; some people say that he is a prophet – Elijah, or maybe Jeremiah. But who do you say that Jesus is? Ultimately, that’s what matters. Who Jesus is to us impacts how we understand ourselves and our ministry. If we say that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, then we are called to work for an end to all war; if we say that Jesus is the Great Teacher, then we are called to be students and to teach others what we have learned; if we say that Jesus is the King of Kings, then we are called to live as his subjects, loyal first to him above all other loyalties. If we, like Simon Peter, say that Jesus is the Messiah, the One who is sent by God to save all humankind, then we need to take seriously the truth that our lives are fundamentally different because of the salvation that he offers. The world is fundamentally different because of the life of this one man, and we are invited to live with this truth in mind.
And if we say that he is all of those things and more, then we have a lot of work to do! Who do we say that Jesus is? What does that mean for who we are and what we do with that?
The thing to note here is, Jesus wasn’t seeking Peter’s approval when he asked that question. He wasn’t asking, “Who do people want me to be? Who do you want me to be?” He wasn’t asking for performance feedback, he was asking if Peter understood the program.
Jesus isn’t seeking Peter’s endorsement, or anyone else’s. So often, we hear commentators in the cultural zeitgeist (particularly in Churchy circles) talk about the Church’s need to be “relevant” to the people we hope to attract, the people we hope might join us, to sit on our committees and put money in the plate and repopulate our depleted numbers in the pews. (We are terrible about asking how we can be “relevant” to the people we hope to serve, but that’s a soapbox for another day.) The problem with the language of “relevance” is that in trying to be “relevant” we end up chasing after somebody’s approval, begging them to love us, desperate for acceptance. That’s not attractive, and it’s borderline idolatrous, because we’re asking somebody other than God to tell us who to be. In striving for “relevance,” we end up abdicating our identity, neglecting our responsibility to our call, shutting out who God is asking us to be.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans – and we haven’t really looked at any of the letters in my time here, but we’re jumping in to the middle of Romans today – in Paul’s letter, he tells us not to conform to the expectations of the world (that is, not to chase this slippery “relevance,”) but instead to “be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” He’s talking about discernment! He wants us to “discern the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” And then Paul talks about spiritual gifts. We each have gifts, he says: abilities, talents, instincts, that make each of us special or good or faithful somehow. Paul says, sure, you each have gifts, but (a) you didn’t earn them or make them, they’re from the Holy Spirit; and (b) the gifts are fine on their own, but they are more powerful, more meaningful, when we put them to use collectively. My gifts are not just for my own enjoyment, and your gifts are not just for your own enjoyment—they go together. My teaching is only as good as your ability to implement what you learn. Your generosity is only as good as our ability to steward your contributions and use them for a positive impact. Use your gifts well, together, and we’ll be able to do far more with them than you could do on your own.
That’s not about relevance, that’s about authenticity. Don’t be who you think your desired audience wants you to be, be who God calls you to be—and the other people who share your calling will see your authenticity and join you in the work.
Ultimately, that’s what Jesus did with the disciples, and they carried on and grew his work exponentially. Simon recognizes Jesus as the Messiah because he encountered Jesus’s authenticity in pursuing his call. Simon knows that Jesus is not just any one of these other titles that people have ascribed to him: he’s not trying to be like Elijah or Jeremiah or any of those other important figures. Jesus is simply being himself, true to his calling from God, and Simon realizes that Jesus is truly God’s Messiah, God’s Chosen Savior. Jesus in turn knows that Simon has learned this because God revealed it to him—that is, Simon has had an encounter with the living God. And Simon came out of this encounter with a new name, Peter. Just like Abram became Abraham, and Jacob became Israel, now Simon becomes Peter because he has been changed by his encounter with the true and living God. In Greek, the name Peter is a play on the word petros, rock. “You are Peter, and on this petros I will build my church.” The translation of the Bible that calls itself “the Message” refers to Peter as “Rocky,” so we don’t lose wordplay that happens in this passage. You are Rocky, and on this rock I will build my church. Simon Peter is thought to be the solid one, the petros, the rock.
And Simon Peter was not as solid as Jesus appeared to think he would be. None of us are. None of us alone can bear the weight of a thoroughly human institution as if we ourselves are not also human. We are not rock, but flesh. But Jesus passed this church on to his followers with full responsibility for its—and our—authenticity and integrity and well-being. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” What we do now impacts what is to come. Who we are impacts who we are becoming. How we live impacts the world as it gets shaped by our actions. If the kingdom of God is among us, and we are building it, then how we live impacts God’s kingdom as it comes more fully into being. If we let somebody else tell us what that looks like, we’ll be building up their kingdom, not God’s kingdom.
Our authenticity matters. Whatever we do here is done in God’s kingdom, because we are the foundation on which that kingdom is built. We make the rules of this kingdom, so we’d better be careful about how we do it – whatever we bind will be bound, and whatever we loose will be loosed. We are building God’s kingdom all the time. So it matters who we say that Jesus is. It matters because who we say Jesus is impacts who we ourselves are, who we as a church are.
Who do we say Jesus is? This, more than any other question, is central to who we are and how we live together as Christ’s body and Christ’s people. Jesus is who we pattern our lives upon, the teacher of our call. If he brings good news to the poor, then we bring good news to the poor. If he proclaims release to the captive, then we proclaim release to the captive. If he restores sight to the blind, then we restore sight to the blind. If we, like Peter, declare Jesus to be the Messiah, then we are a people who have been saved for the building up of God’s kingdom come on earth.
Who Jesus is is who we are, and what we do reflects on his church and builds up his kingdom. Let us be mindful of this as we move forward. Who do you say that I am? Who does God say that we are? Let us listen for this calling, that we may be faithful and authentic in following that call, in Jesus’s name.
Thanks be to God. Amen.