I am sure that a lot of hair has been lost in the head scratching evoked by this passage.
"Why shouldn't they tell?"
"Why couldn't Jesus have given His disciples an easy formulaic answer for describing who He was?"
"What was He hiding?"
What is all this 'open secret' stuff?"
Here is he passage and then a feeble attempt at reflection.
Matthew 16:13-20:
"Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?'""And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.'""He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?'""Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.'"
And Jesus answered him, 'Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.' Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah."
Having visited the rock that is Caesarea Philippi and having seen what the ancients called the "Gates of Hades" carved into that rock next to a temple in honor of a man who declared himself divine based upon his relationship to someone else, I have some thoughts
The temple, the palace,, and the torture chamber were built in honor of one who had declared himself to be divine, though still in mortal flesh (a bit of a Roman departure from tradition – even for emperors considered sons of gods). He had named the place after himself and his patron, Augustus.
The city had a long history of pantheism and idolatry.
Many gods had been declared, worshiped, and venerated in that beautiful place at the base of Mt, Hermon in the Golan Heights.
When Jesus asks what the people were saying about Him, there were many answers.
There always are.
But Jesus is not the product of reputation nor the servant of public referendum. Words, names, and titles mean different things to different people.
Jesus was not seeking a dissertation on current trends in christology. He narrowed the question:
"Who do YOU say that I am?"
YOU!
Ultimately it is a personally question answered against the backdrop of historical evidence, biblical witness, and Jesus' own testimony, but it must be personal to be powerful.
Jesus tells Peter that he knows because God told him.
He knows because he has deeply experienced some of what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of a Living (rather than deceased – as with all the former emperors) God.
Jesus stands in direct contrast with all who have come before claiming prerogatives, privilege, and power.
One point of contrast is that He does not insist upon recognition. In fact, He would rather avoid it than have it misunderstood or fit into a pore-exiting category within the context of empire.
He says that this is the stuff and these are the people and the testimonies upon which He will build a unique, holy, and world-changing company of confessors who have been called out from the world to be sent out into the world to dismantle the gates of death.
But do not tell, He warns.
Now that you have the language in its simplest form, do not use it as a catch-phrase.
It is simple, not simplistic. Do not dumb it down! Do not de-radicalize it by using it the way others do. Do not allow it to be used in such a way as to be misunderstood. Do not insist that others adopt it on the surface without being transformed by it. Don't use it as a resume.
The messianic movement of Jesus defied and defies expectations. It was an is counter-cultural. It balks at imperial power. It resists domestication. It will not be incorporated into any form of nationalism. It is incompatible with being used by human power as an endorsement. It will not be cross-pollinated with any other form of conquest.
Its values are kingdom values. It's most honorable citizens are servants. Its greatest heroes are the poor and oppressed.
They follow in the footsteps of the misunderstood and misappropriated Jesus of Nazareth.
So Jesus tells Peter than he got it right and he got it from God — but to be careful how he tells it because the gospel must be seen and experienced in order to be fully understood and that titles are meaningless without the full work of redemption is accomplished in the cross and resurrection of Jesus and in how that reality is worked out again and again the the lives of the people who comprise the church that He started to build that day with one man and his confession of faith.
By the way, Caesarea Philippi is now in ruins, but the church is still visibly alive in the world, bearing witness to humanity, and releasing prisoners from the gates of Hades.
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