Why did he postpone the lesson so long? It is surprising to discover that Jesus waited until nearly the close of His three years of ministry before he clearly told the disciples about His crucifixion to come.
When we remember that the teaching of the cross is the one mitral theme of the gospel, the sun in the firmament of heavenly truth, we wonder why the Savior so long delayed instruction on that all-important subject.
Only an occasional mystic reference had he made to His death. There were only His remarks about "this temple" being destroyed and raised again in three days (John 2:19), of His being lifted up as the bronze serpent (John 3:14), of giving His "flesh" for the life of the world (John 6:51), of the sign of the prophet Jonah (Matthew 12:39), or of a sad separation of the Bridegroom from "the children of the bride chamber" (Matthew 9:15).
But the disciples did not catch the meaning of these pregnant utterances. What they needed was a clear, full story of the soul-shaking event to come. This Jesus did not divulge until His visit to the coasts of Caesarea Philippi only a few months before the great trial of faith itself took place.
It is also surprising that not until the same time did Jesus venture to ask the disciples who they thought He really was. Time must be allowed them to nurture the first superficial enthusiasm roused by His early ministry into the more sober conviction of a faith that could endure trial.
And indeed their faith in Jesus' deity was sorely tried
Reticent to take to Himself the title "Son of God:" He found a strange pleasure in persistently calling Himself the "Son of man:" He had progressively disappointed the fond hopes of the Jews regarding their expected Messiah. Steadfastly declining the applause of people who would like to see in Him the fulfillment of their popular hopes, He seemed all too content to remain in poverty and obscurity. He took no interest in courting the approval of the religious "establishment", but instead pursued a course that appeared needlessly to attract their enmity.
After the difficult discourse on the Bread of Life (John 6), multitudes of former disciples went back to walk no more with Him. He even dared abruptly to dismiss a crowd who purposed to make Him king. Now He was becoming "despised and rejected of men". The disciples could find every excuse; it seemed, to renounce even a purely human, worldly faith in Jesus as the Christ.
How the disciples finally recognized Christ
At the same time they had seen plenty of evidence to confirm the insistent convictions of the Holy Spirit that this Man was indeed the Messiah, the Son of God. And this evidence was not merely the physical miracles He performed. These could be explained away by friend or foe, or at least disregarded. Physical miracles seldom strengthen true faith. What did confirm the faith of the disciples was the unworldly, supernatural, truly miraculous love seen in every word and act of Jesus. There was profound spiritual wisdom and heavenly common sense in all He said. These were the "very works" for whose sake Jesus appealed to Philip to believe Him (John 14:11,12) Refusal to recognize these "works" was the hopeless and incurable sin of unbelief on the part of the Jewish leaders, not against the Son of man, but against the Holy Spirit.
But the disciples believed! Now at Caesarea Philippi, within a few months of the crucifixion, they were at last ready to confess their faith.
"When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, 'Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?'" (Matthew 16:13). Their replies would have been flattering to anyone-except the Son of God. Popular fancy acclaimed Him as Elijah, Jeremiah, or another of the prophets. Unsatisfied, Jesus proceeded to ask His disciples to crystallize their somewhat vague conceptions into a confession of deep conviction. He put them on the spot: "But who do you say that I am?" (Verse 15).
Peter was the first to find words to express the bold faith that had gripped their souls. Not only this Man a greater than all the prophets; not only was He the long-expected human Messiah. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," he boldly confessed. (Verse 16).
Jesus commended Peter's faith, but quickly cautioned him against the sin of supposing he deserved credit for it: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." (Verse 17) Peter must not be self~sufficient as though he were more clever than others.
As brilliant as fleshly brain cells may be, unless aided by the Holy Spirit the human mind is utterly incapable of recognizing God when He appears incognito. "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:3) The Son of God walked the dusty thoroughfares of life two thousand years ago quite unperceived and unrecognized by humanity, even as in all the years since then heavenly truth has been equally unperceived by "flesh and blood."
Now Jesus goes to work to tell the full truth
With the disciples' confession of faith, Jesus was now ready to lay the foundation and cornerstone of His church. "On this rock [that is, this confession of my identity I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18) We now see Him laboring swilily, skillfLllly, a wise Master Builder and divine Craftsman, erecting an edifice of faith against which "the gates of hell" shall not prevail.
Now that the disciples were thoroughly convinced of His divinity, He was prepared to enlighten them about His death. Drawing aside all the mystic veils that had beclouded the previous brief references to the cross, He plainly, even bluntly, told them that He must be rejected and slain: "From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day." (Verse 21)
Bad News!
The disciples listened with more astonishment than terror. The idea of God having a Son revolutionary enough to their Jewish minds; now the thought of that Son of God dying seemed incredulous. This cannot be! A crucified Messiah in place of a glorified, crowned, world-ruling one? This was an insult to their intelligence, a scandal and a reproach. The more convinced the disciples were that Jesus was the Son of God, the more confused and confounded they were to be told that He must be put to death. And by the best people in the world, their own nation!
Now the same "blessed" Simon Bar-Jonah who had been first to confess the Son of God was first to deny His cross. Solicitous, apparently, even for Jesus' mental health at hearing the astounding announcement so repugnant to his colleagues, the well-meaning Peter rudely grasped the person of his Lord as if to give Him a kind of shock treatment to jar Him from such morbid imaginings. No ill treatment could be accorded Him by members of the human race, especially by the Chosen People! "Then Peter took Him aside, and began to rebuke Him, saying, 'Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to you.'" (Verse 22) Crosses are for felons, not for anyone good, and especially not for one who is the Son of God!
Thus was the cross both a "stumbling block" and "foolishness" to the first disciples, and an "offense" as well. Thus is it even today to our human nature.
We need not be surprised at the confusion of the disciples
If "flesh and blood" could not comprehend the idea that Jesus was the Son of God, much less could Peter unaided comprehend the doctrine of the cross. The very idea was something so utterly beyond human invention as to be unfathomable to their minds without the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
It was good that Jesus had first drawn from the disciples their confession that He was the Son of God before springing this shocking news on them. Otherwise they would have bolted in unbelief and abandoned Him as did so many others of His interested followers had just done. Man-made religions could invent "messiahs" but none could conceive of a suffering, dying Messiah giving Himself in unutterable love for the world.
Are we better or wiser than peter?
Our unaided human thinking today is just as blind to the truth of the cross as was that of the first disciples. We are in even greater peril; we have what they did not have-a mental knowledge of the facts of the crucifixion and a nearly universal recognition that it really happened, but this "head knowledge" can confuse the avenues of approach to a heart understanding of the cross.
If we have the least idea that our fortunate birth in the Christian era now gives us any advantage over Peter, we may feel that we naturally are wiser than he was, living as we do in a more enlightened age. We have graduated out of spiritual ignorance like his! And then, we miss the whole point of the gospel.
We cannot even begin to comprehend what took place at Caesarea Philippi unless we realize that our human nature is the same as was Peter's. Failure to recognize this may expose us to the tragedy of repeating on a fatal plane Peter's spurning of the cross. He spurned it ignorantly; we may be in danger of rejecting it knowingly. Incidentally, that will be the final sin of lost people.
The reason why Peter reacted as he did is obvious
The idea of the cross was something so original, unworldly, that it could arise only in the mind of God. The cross is both the "wisdom" and the "power" of God. (1 Corinthians 1:13, 24) It is a divine strategy of spiritual warfare of sublime skill. But Peters response to the Savior's stunning announcement was the same as that which people of every place and age would experience. He was expressing the thoughts of our own hearts, even today, in treating as repugnant foolishness the very idea of being crucified.
Jesus revealed this insight in His rebuke to Peter for his disrespectful and irreverent interruption: "You an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." (Matthew 16:23) Peter was simply a man, as anyone of us is, who could comprehend only the things that are of men! Peter was no more "wicked" than any of us-he was just being himself. And being himself; he couldn't fathom "the things of God" enough to discern the meaning of the cross. Those "things of men" which blinded his understanding blind ours as well.
But we have not yet considered the real source of Peter's opposition to our Lord's cross. Jesus was not rude or angry with the poor man, and His words were no passionate outburst of temper. The unmitigated severity of His stinging rebuke to His beloved disciple reveals a significant origin of Peter's worldly sentiments. Jesus merely putting His finger of recognition on the plague spot of mankind's opposition to the cross: "He turned, and said to Peter,' Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me.'" (Verse 23)
Poor Peter!
He had unwittingly let himself be a tool in the hands of Satan by seeking to turn Jesus away from His sacrificial purpose. That temptation was real to Jesus! Christ saw that Peter's ideas had their source in the enemy's original rebellion in heaven. Evading His cross was an alluring temptation to Jesus that He had to resist with all the power of His will. Serving as Satan's amanuensis, Peter had touched a raw nerve in Jesus' soul.
We are not to understand that Peter was Satan himself; but Inciters' attitude toward the cross was more than a reflection of fallible, uninformed human nature. It perfectly reflected the attitude of Satan himself.
We can imagine that the disciples by now were a subdued and quiet group as the full force of Jesus' pointed rebuke began to sink into their minds.