Who do People Say that the Son of Man Is?

1. Location- Caesarea Philippi was a pagan territory. The people of the place were of Roman and Greek culture. The place is around 40 miles away from Galilee and the people worshipped foreign gods. It was known that the people of Caesarea Philippi had the cult of Pan which was a pagan god with a body half goat and half man.

2. Universality- traces of universality both in orientation and disposition are revealed in the event at Caesarea Philippi: a) the location speaks of Jesus bringing his disciples to a pagan territory. This prophetic meaning will tell us that the faith will later be brought to the Gentiles; b) the dialogue between Jesus and his disciples is symbolic of universality. This will reveal that God will dialogue with his people in a pagan territory. This was initiated by Jesus “who do the people that the Son of Man is?” This gives us a grasp that it is always God who takes the initiative or the first move; c) the answer to Jesus’ question was revealed in a pagan territory. This indicated that even pagan lands and peoples would be able to confess that Jesus is the Son of the living God.

3. Church- Jesus revealed his plan of building the Church on the faith of the Apostles in a pagan territory. This will indicate that the Church that is to be established will be universal which would welcome both pagan and Jewish. The nature of the Church would be: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

4. The world, people, faith, culture and mentality that are different from us. The pluralistic society today may have different confessions of who Jesus is for them. The emerging Christologies are challenges to us. This is what Jesus said: Who do the people say that the Son of Man is? What will be the impact of this statement be for us today? Examples to this are the fundamentalists and protestants.

         a) Challenge of Inclusiveness- the various confessions about Christ today which appear to be a different Christology from the Catholic understanding of Christ poses a challenge to our ecclesiology. We do not reject people who confess Christ differently. The spirit of openness is a form of inclusiveness. Pope Francis says: “An attitude of openness in truth and in love must characterize the dialogue with the followers of non-Christian religions, in spite of various obstacles and difficulties, especially forms of fundamentalism on both sides.” (EG 253)

         b) Spirit of Tolerance- the spirit of tolerance is a prerequisite disposition towards the mission of dialogue. It would be quite easy for us to develop the sense of tolerance for Asia is known to be a pluralistic continent. John Paul II said: “Asian peoples are known for their spirit of religious tolerance and peaceful co-existence.” (EA6)

         c) Constructive Dialogue- the spirit of dialogue is very much essential today as we live in a pluralistic world. Pope Francis promotes dialogue: “Dialogue between generations; dialogue among our people, for we are that people; readiness to give and receive, while remaining open to the truth” (FT 199). At the heart of dialogue, we find the primacy of the common good. We enter into dialogue because we seek the common good in the community and in the society. Pope Francis warns us that “ack of dialogue means that in these individual sectors people are concerned not for the common good, but for the benefits of power or, at best, for ways to impose their own ideas.” (FT 202). The study of theology of religions and dialogue are important ways of disposing oneself for constructive dialogue.

         d) Reentering Asia- Asia has its own history. The Catholic Church had been part of the history of Asia and sometimes the burden of history hinders us towards wholistic approach of mission. John Paul II emphasized in Ecclesia in Asia that the Christian faith has to be seen as a gift to the peoples of Asia. This flows from the understanding that Jesus Christ is a gift to Asia.