Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

the Rev. Emily Boring Jesus’s question, “Who do you say that I am?”, is not a question Christians answer once and for all. We inherit understandings of Jesus from scripture, tradition, theology, worship, and culture, just as the disciples interpreted Jesus through their own religious history and political circumstances. But Jesus asks us to bring those inherited understandings into conversation with what we ourselves have experienced. The preacher illustrates this through worship at the U.S.–Mexico border, where Christians on opposite sides of the wall pray, sing, exchange the peace, and celebrate Eucharist together. There, the wall—an instrument of separation—becomes like both cross and altar, making tangible the claim that Christ’s love overcomes division. Theology is therefore a lifelong conversation between inherited faith and lived experience. Our answers will always be partial, just as Peter could correctly identify Jesus as Messiah while still misunderstanding what that meant. Christian faith is less about possessing a perfect answer than continually allowing Jesus’s question to challenge and transform us: Who do you say that I am, and how will your answer shape your life?