Who Do You Say That I Am from Freedom

David Phelps' “Who Do You Say That I Am” takes the question Jesus asked his disciples and applies it to the listener. The first verse offers possible answers the way a skeptic might: a poet turned radical politician, a preacher on a mission talking about fishing in a new kind of kingdom, or a small-town carpenter looking for fame. Then it asks whether Mary's son could be the long-awaited Holy One.

The chorus speaks to the doubter with patience. “So you're a cynic, oh well, I get it. It's hard to trust what you can't see. You've been broken, how can you hope in or believe in a mystery?” Then the voice of Jesus steps in with “Who do you say that I am?” The second verse says that after two thousand years the question is still being asked, and the answer is still a mustard seed. It notes that science can't prove it and critics call it a crutch, yet the leper is still leaping and the blind man still seeing. The final lines address the one who is weary from wrestling with the truth and suggest that the Truth may be reaching out to them. The song does not argue its case in detail. It leaves the decision with each listener, which is why it works as a gentle closing song for a message on faith.

Peter's answer to the question is Matthew 16:15-16. The mustard seed is Mark 4:30-32, and the man who once was blind and now sees is John 9:25.