Sermon Notes — August 23, 2026
“Two Questions”
Matthew 16:13-20 (NRSVUE)
Rev. Terry Carty
August 23, 2026
Ask the congregation: “Who knew that Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter and ordinary guy, was Superman?”
Lois Lane (reporter and love interest), Jimmy Olsen (cub reporter), Perry White (his editor), Ma & Pa Kent (adoptive parents), miscellaneous other superheroes, Pete Ross (childhood friend), Lex Luther (archenemy).
Seriously? A lot of people saw Superman do his hero stuff. But put on a pair of glasses and a suit and suddenly nobody recognizes the guy who just flew out of the room five minutes earlier?
But that’s the point of a secret identity. Clark Kent, aka Superman, can be standing right in front of people, and they can completely misunderstand who they’re looking at.
And Matthew 16 raises a surprisingly similar question about Jesus.
Jesus is standing right in front of people. They know his name. They know his reputation. They’ve heard the stories. But Jesus asks two questions.
First, “Who do people say that I am? ‘
And then he asks the question that really matters:
“But who do you say that I am?”
Will you pray with me and for me? Most holy and mysterious God, we proclaim
that we know you by the names for Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And we Christians claim that you reveal yourself to us in both natural and supernatural circumstances every day. But we confess that we often don’t recognize you. I pray that I will be able see you in unexpected ways and discover your identity in my life. Lord, help each one of us to pray that same prayer and seek to recognize you in Spirit and in Truth. Amen.
I want to take a few minutes to ‘decode’ today’s scripture before I get to my point.
This story is reported in Matthew (ch 16), Mark (ch 8) and Luke (ch 20) and indirectly in John (ch 20). But Matthew and Mark tell it almost identically. Both place the event in Caesarea Philippi, known for its pagan worship and grand pagan temples. It is significant that Jesus was revealed for the first time as the Messiah in that location.
Both Matthew and Mark quote the disciples answering the first question as that people were saying John the Baptist, Elijah, and other prophets, now dead, but blessed memories. All these were people they hoped God would send again to restore the glory Israel had lost.
But the difference I want to point out is actually in the question itself. We think we hear, “who do people say I am?” But only Matthew uses the language that is most often translated “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” This changes the first question considerably from “Who do people say I am?”
Let me explain… Years ago when I started to get serious about reading the Bible, it seemed very strange to me that the gospels sometimes referred to Jesus as “the Son of Man.” “Son of God” I understood – Son of Mary? Yes, that too – but “Son of Man”? I became more confused when the United Methodist Publishing House translated the Common English Bible and used “Human One” with footnotes saying “Son of Man.”
I did my research and found that ‘a son of man’ (I use lower case) was a type of phrase in Aramaic language that simply means ‘a human being.’ No superhero, no healer, no miracle worker - just a person. All people could be considered ‘son of man’ … all sons and daughters of men and women for that matter.
About 500 years before Jesus lived, Daniel came along and he with his friends were taken into captivity in Babylon. In addition to surviving being thrown into the lion’s den, Daniel had God’s gift of seeing visions and interpreting them. One of those visions is found in the Old Testament book of Daniel 7:13-14.
The New International Version (NIV) translates:
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, [ a ] coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days (that is a name for God) and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
The footnote for son of man reads:
The Aramaic phrase bar enash means human being. The phrase son of man is retained here because of its use in the New Testament as a title of Jesus, probably based largely on this verse.
Daniel’s vision was one LIKE a human being coming from a cloud and approaching the throne of God. But 300 years later, about 200 years before Jesus lived, Son of Man (capitalized) had emerged as somewhat of a title for the one who would come from a cloud to be given everlasting authority, glory and sovereign power. The title Messiah emerged as a title from the root meaning ‘anointed’ and joined ‘Son of Man’ as equivalent titles for the long-awaited one who Daniel said would lead God’s kingdom.
So, (stay with me) in Matthew Jesus asks, ‘who do people say the Son of Man is?’ He is NOT referring to himself at that point. He is asking what are people expecting this savior to be? What kind of savior?
Now this opens things up considerably. The disciples start thinking about it. They knew that Son of Man (AKA Messiah) did not necessarily mean the same thing to everyone. And they were probably NOT thinking about Jesus. Some people expected the Messiah to be:
Some expected a king like David, political and military, who would restore Israel’s sovereignty.
Some expected a righteous ruler who would establish justice and righteousness.
Some expected a priestly Messiah who would come alongside or even above a royal figure.
Some expected a heavenly deliverer like in Daniel’s vision.
Some expected God’s direct intervention.
Some Jewish expectations emphasized God himself establishing his kingdom, rather than a human Messiah doing everything.
We know from the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, for example, that expectations involved multiple messianic figures, including priestly and royal dimensions.
Even when Peter made his famous profession “You are the Messiah,” he was likely still thinking that Jesus was going to emerge as one of those kinds of Messiah. But he probably thought of anything but The Messiah who radically interprets his role through suffering, the cross, and resurrection. Jesus was not the Messiah they had expected.
As you study your Bible, you will see that after Jesus confirmed Peter’s declaration that he is the Messiah, he began to teach God’s unexpected plan for redemption of the world.
In our time, we find ourselves living in the midst of a pagan land. As the disciples stood in Caesarea Phillipi among pagan temples, we find ourselves in the midst of temptation and the evils of false idols. Some hope for a savior to cure our culture. Some put their hope in super politicians. Some seek a messiah.
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” and “Who do you say Jesus is?” These same questions still ask for the responses of Christians today. We know about Jesus the Christ, but what do we actually expect of a Messiah? Our collective response to this question becomes our creed.
Christians have had many creeds. Peter’s declaration, “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God,” was one of the first of many creeds. We draw strength from our creedal statements. These are the expressions from our ancestors of the savior they have both expected and known. Creeds have shaped the Church that, by faith, has been the rock that has overcome the power of death itself and opened the gates of heaven to so many.
But our personal response becomes the creed by which we truly live. Each place, each day, each circumstance has its own way in defining for us our hope for The Son of Man who can save us from evil and redeem us from a meaningless existence. Each one of us faces our world with different needs and different fears.
So, these two questions can serve us well as we seek the faith that will sustain us:
Who do people say the Son of Man is? What kind of savior do we need?
Who do you say Jesus is for your life?
Today’s creed was composed in 1960 by the Maasai people of Tanzania (East Africa) in collaboration with missionaries from the Congregation of the Holy Ghost led by Fr. Vincent J. Donavan. The creed attempts to express the essentials of the Christian faith within the Maasai culture. You will notice that we have not altered the creed in any way in order to honor our African brothers and sisters. Their reference “Man”; is their term for all humanity, men and women. Dr. Jaroslav Pelikan, a modern scholar of creeds and their history, considers the
Maasai Creed to be an excellent example of the bringing together of universal faith and local experience. It speaks wonderfully to us today. Please join me in reading this creed as an act of worship and in solidarity with Christian brothers and sisters in East Africa.
We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created Man and wanted Man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the Earth. We have known this High God in darkness, and now we know Him in the light. God promised in the book of His word, the Bible, that He would save the world and all the nations and tribes.
We believe that God made good His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left His home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, He rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.
We believe that all our sins are forgiven through Him. All who have faith in Him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love and share the bread together in love, to announce the Good News to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for Him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.
As you go into this week, as you go into your unique world, consider the question
of faith:
What power would it take for salvation, and Who do YOU say Jesus is?