There is a question that Jesus will ask each of us at the time of our personal judgement after death. It is the same question Jesus asked the twelve disciples: “Who do you say that I am?”  They had followed him for a short time. They had heard his teachings, were privileged to witness many signs and wonders. “Who do you say that I am?” He wasn’t looking for their opinions, which they gave when they reflected what others were saying. Jesus was looking for their present conviction. “Who do you say I am?”

That conviction came to Peter as a personal revelation-grace from God. It was a leaped of faith from any personal feelings or mere human insight. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” From later encounters with Jesus, it is clear that Peter uttered the right words without the right conviction. In Peter’s understanding at the moment, Jesus wasn’t the Christ as revealed by God, but the Christ according to human desires of the Jewish people at the time. 

"Who do you say that I am?" Jesus is addressing you and me with this question now in preparation for the time of our judgment. Do we have an opinion about Jesus or a conviction? Is that conviction based on God's revelation and our acceptance or on our expectation about Jesus, the Jesus we want him to be for us? As Peter came into a full, proper understanding of who Jesus was, will we? "Who do you say that I am" is not a casual question but the fundamental question of our existence.