Who says the people that I am?
 
                       Matthew 16:13-20
 
      Matthew enters this Evangelical passage after a long preaching of Jesus to his disciples. Somehow, Jesus wants to know what people think and especially what his disciples think about him. It is a didactic question that wants to teach and to emphasize the messianic character of his person. The disciples repeated what they have heard in various towns and cities. For Jesus, the response of the people is not convincing and invites the disciples to give its own response. Peter on behalf of the group is the only one that dares to speak and makes his confession of faith. "Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God".
 
      In some ways, it’s the confession of faith of the whole Church since Peter makes it on behalf of the whole community and that we can well say that it is the same confession of faith that we still do after twenty centuries of Christianity. However, our confession must be born from the conviction that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. But Jesus is not only a glorious Messiah but also a Savior by means of the pain and of the cross. This last one is perhaps the main teaching of Saint Matthew the believer who confesses Christ does so with the strength that is born of our belonging to the people of God engendered in our baptism and with the power of the Holy Spirit.