Who do you say that I am?

Being a disciple is not following what the majority says but what the Lord taught.

As we celebrate the joint Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, we recall Peter's profession of faith: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."

This was in response to the question of Jesus, "Who do you say that I am?"

But before Jesus asked the disciples. He first asked "Who do people say that I am?"

This question does not imply that Jesus is trying to become a "people-pleaser" or a politician who conducts surveys to gauge the public's view regarding one's possibility of winning an election.

Rather, it emphasizes that the "world" would always be confused about who Jesus is.

It is erroneous to claim that the "people" can provide the knowledge of who Jesus is. The knowledge of the identity of the Lord came from the Father.

"Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father" (Matthew 16:17).

This knowledge of who Jesus is was entrusted to the Apostles, who were commanded to "go to the world and preach the Good News." Of course, that Good News is Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, nowadays, there is a trend to alienate "doctrines" from "relationships" as if teaching doctrines are bad and establishing relationships are better.

A relationship has its foundation in knowing.

Relationships in the Church are based on our common knowledge of the Lord as taught by the Apostles and not by surveys.

If we focus on establishing relationships, we will reduce the Church that the Lord established into a mere "club" where everyone feels welcome but does not share anything in common except that we treat each other nice, or else, we will withdraw our club membership.

Doctrines and Relationships go hand in hand.

Better still, we have a relationship precisely because we share the same knowledge that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God."