In the command of Jesus to His disciples that they should tell no one that He is the Christ, Mt. not only joins again the narrative of Mk.-Lk., but rightly interprets the briefer form, in which they gave the command, by the words Sn avrds ianv 6 XpicTTis. The authenticity of this and similar commands, especially in the Gospel of Mk., has, indeed, been called in question (Wrede, Das Mcs- siasgeheimnis) ; but the command is (juite natural here, and cannot be regarded as having its origin solely in the general apologetic purpose of St. Mark. It has reference to the form in which Peter's con- fession was made, and to deny its authenticity would necessitate a complete reconstruction of the account which the Gospels give us of Jesus' life and work.
The climax of the scene at Cresarea is reached in Jesus' announcement of His Passion. Both Mt. and Mk. signalize His words as the beginning of instruction on this subject (Mk. xai vp^aTo, Mt. more specifically aTrb rdre rip^aro, Lk. connecting I lie announcement directly with the command to il< nee, ciVwi' 6Vi SeiT.i.T.a.. -iroWa. Tradeti'). When • Il -ns became aware of the necessity of which He lieie for the first time speaks explicitly to His dis- ciples does not appear clearly from the Synoptic
250
C^ESAREA PHILIPPI
C/ESAREA PHILIPPI
Gospels. The Fourth Gospel indicates that He was not unaware of it from the beginning of His public ministry (Jn 2", cf. ¥\ Mt m^). The bynoptic Gospels, however, give evidence that Jesus looked forward at an early period in the Galilajan ministry to the time when He would be removed from His disciples (Mk 2™). Certainly the narra- tive here does not justify the inference that He now for the first time became conscious of tlie necessity of His suffering, any more than the question to Peter and Peter's confession justify tne inference that Jesus or His disciples now for the first time became conscious of His Messiah- ship. The conditions of His ministry may well have influenced Jesus to speak of the .subject to His disciples at this particular time. Foreseeing not merely the necessity of His suffering, but its near realization. He spoke to the disciples of it for the purpose of preparmg them for the issue of His work and of claiifying the content of their faith. The necessity of which Jesus speaks is to be under- stood as moral rather than physical, since it sprang out of tlie nature of His Messianic work by which He was brought into conflict with existing con- ditions. But if faithfulness to His work involved suffering, the necessity of which He .speaks be- comes voluntarily conditioned by a willingness to suffer, and this finds its ultimate explanation only in the Messianic consciousness of Jesus. A neces- sity springing out of faithfulness to His work, and thus to Himself, is, however, not only moral, but falls within the Divine purpose ; and Jesus evi- dently so conceived it, since in rebuking Peter He speaks of it as to tou deov. The idea of a suftering Messiah, if current at all at the time of Jesus, was certainly not a prominent feature of the popular Messianic hope. The traces of it wliich are found, moreover, do not explain the form in which it appeai-s in the Synoptic Gcspels. For liere we find it closely associated with a resurrection and a glorious coming of the Son of Man in His king- dom.
However clearly Jesus may have foreseen His suffering, and however calmly He may have an- nounced its necessity, the care with which He prepared for, as well as the actual result of. His statement, reveal plainly the fact that tlie idea was foreign and repugnant to the thought of the disciijles. A Messiah, though in retirement, op- posed by the leaders and unrec-opiized by the people, they could believe Him: l.nt IIkU He should suffer, and that in .Tim u-ib m wlnic a- Messiah He should rather est aMi -I, 11,, Vm-.U^ux, seemed to them incredible. IVt'i s artiuu in re- buking Jesus sprang naturally and spuutaueou.sly from the limitation of his outlook into the Mes- sianic future. The view which would exclude suflering from His future, Jesus, however, rejects not only as human in character and origin, but as opposed to the DiWne purpose ; so that Peter in urging it, however conscientiously, became for Jesus a tempter, a hindrance in His way.
In the words which follow Peter's rebuke, Jesus sets forth the conditions of discipleship, and points out that the way of the disciple in following Him, like His way in going to Jerusalem to suffer, in- volved not only suffering, but willingness to suffer for His sake — the voluntary taking up of the cross and foll()win<; Him in the pathway of self-sacrifice. Empli.isi-i i- plairj liy .r(~iis on personal relation- shijitii Mini, i.\..iliirj a ...n^iiousness on His part of His i.«u >u[ii' 111'- -ii^iiiricance for the world of spiritual riailiti.-^ ma. I.- a.rcssible through Him and His message (cf . also Mt W«-). The fate of the soul, with its possibilities of spiritual life, is made dependent not on a denial of the will to live, but on a denial of the will to live for self and earthly gain. He who would be Jesus' disciple must seek his