The more I think about it, what an amazing question. I mean, really, why on earth or in heaven for that matter, why would Jesus, the Lord, the Messiah ask the disciples who they say that He is? Does He not know who He is? Why does it matter who they say He is? Does their answer to the question change who He is? Does their answer change anything at all? And, by the way, who else ever asks us who we say they are? Don’t people pretty much always make their best effort to tell us who they are and not the other way around? Politicians do exactly the opposite of what Jesus is doing today in this passage. They spend enormous amounts of money on their individual campaigns. But I do not suppose that they ask us who we say they are? I don’t think so. But do they not instead spend huge sums money to try to tell us who they say they are (and who their opponent is) so they might win the election? With their campaigns they do exactly the opposite of what Jesus is doing in today’s Gospel. Jesus asks us who we say He is because He knows that the way we answer that question will determine the kind of person we will become and ultimately go along way in determining whether or not salvation will be ours. Political candidates spend all kinds of money to try to tell us who they are so that they might achieve some kind of office. I’d say that there is a pretty much a dichotomy here, wouldn’t you? So, is there a lesson here-I think there is. As we know, we should never vote for a candidate based on who they say they are, but on who we, after a lot of research, prayer and reflection say they are. On the other hand who we say Jesus is will go a long way to determine how we make every day decisions and how we live our lives. Jesus asks us the question who do you say that I am not because He doesn’t understand who He is but to help us know Him better and so we might be able to more closely follow Him.