Then he enjoined on his disciples that they should say to no man that he was the Christ.
Peter has just confessed Him, and Jesus has spoken of building His church. Now the Lord tells the disciples to stop announcing the very truth Peter declared. Why silence a confession that heaven itself had revealed, and what takes its place?
The verse opens with "Then." That word ties the charge to what has just happened. Commentators read it as the Lord accepting Israel's refusal.
A remarkable change comes here. Peter had confessed Him to be the Christ, the Son of the living God: now the Lord charges them to tell no one that He was the Christ. It was as good as saying, It is too late; I am rejected as the Christ — the Messiah, the Anointed of Jehovah. Israel refuses Him, and He accepts the fact.
The ban was not about doubt. The nation had the evidence already and would not have Him.
Was He the Christ? Undoubtedly. But here He says, Tell them no more that I am the Christ. Why this remarkable charge? Because all the proofs given of His Messiahship had been in vain to the nation.
Commentators give a second reason: the disciples themselves. Peter had just protested against the Lord's coming death.
Also, the disciples were not yet fit to bear further testimony, even if it had been needed. Peter did have some measure of spiritual sight, for he had just confessed Him as the Christ. Yet the news of His coming rejection and death raised a fierce protest from this very man… So how could he go out as an effective witness to the Christ he recognised?
"Christ" means the Anointed One, Israel's promised King. He now lays that title down and takes up another.
They were no longer to speak of this glory of Judaism and truth of God, this fitting, divine, and Jewish dignity, this office to the nation. They had refused Him on the merits of His glory and truth. So He would not now be put before them to stir and satisfy their passions. They were to tell no one that He was the Christ. He had presented Himself to them as the fulfilment of the Prophets. Now, as Son of Man — a larger and humbler name, but with glory reaching much farther — He was to suffer. He would be owned by no attractive title honoured in one place. Instead He would do a much larger and more important work through this very rejection.
Earlier the message had been that the kingdom was near. That public offer now stops.
This public proclamation of the kingdom to the Jews was now to cease. From now on He no longer offers Himself to the nation as their Messiah or Christ. Instead He "strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ." Instead of pointing to national acceptance and an earthly crown, He speaks of national rejection and an earthly cross. Instead of the old hope of the prophetic kingdom, He mentions a new thing which He was about to establish: the assembly or Church.
Setting aside His Jewish rights opened the door to a wider blessing.
He came to the house of Israel as the promised seed of Abraham and of David, to reign over the house of Jacob for ever. Yet He gave up that earthly glory, which was and is His by oath and promise, so that He might have the saints of the heavenly calling. That could not be if the kingdom had been set up in power then… But in resurrection He is offered to all, not to Jews alone. The gospel frees those who believe from all earthly distinctions and links them with Christ on high.
The silence has a time limit. Resurrection changes what may be announced.
His people had rejected Him as the promised Messiah. He is now to go on towards Jerusalem. There He will be handed over, and then raised from the dead, to be announced as Lord and Christ. Therefore He commanded His disciples not to publish Him as the Christ.
The older message about the kingdom is not lost for ever. It is on hold.
At that moment the kingdom was presented in Christ in person, and it was refused. So the testimony was withdrawn, as we see in Matthew 16:20. It will be resumed when the gathering out of the church is completed.
- Rejected — the silence is not doubt about who He is. The proofs of His Messiahship had been given to the nation in vain.
- Renamed — He lays down the title "Christ" and takes up "Son of Man." That name sounds humbler, but its reach is far wider.
- Redirected — He no longer points to national acceptance and a crown. He points to rejection and a cross, and names a new thing He will build: the church.
- Reaching further — He gives up the earthly glory promised to Him. In return He gains the saints of the heavenly calling, and a gospel offered to all, not to Jews only.
- Resumed — the silence lasts only until the resurrection. Then He is announced as Lord and Christ. The kingdom testimony is on hold, not cancelled.
From that time Jesus began to shew to his disciples that he must go away to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised.
From the moment Peter confessed who He was, the Lord's message to His disciples changed. He told them to stop calling Him Israel's promised King. From now on He spoke of Jerusalem, suffering, death, and rising on the third day. Why the change? And why the word "must"?
Verse 20 tells the disciples to stop announcing Him as the Christ. One commentator reads that command as the Lord's acceptance of a settled fact. He also marks the difference between two of the Lord's titles.
A remarkable change comes here. Peter had confessed Him to be the Christ, the Son of the living God: now the Lord charges them to tell no one that He was the Christ. It was as good as saying: It is too late; I am rejected as the Christ — the Messiah, the Anointed of Jehovah. Israel refuses Him, and He accepts the fact… There is a great difference between "the Christ" and "the Son of Man." The second is His title as rejected, and then as exalted in heaven.
The change is not only in what the disciples say. It is in what the nation is about to do.
The disciples must no longer testify of Him as the Messiah. In that character the nation had rejected Him. For Him there was to be at this time no national recognition of His just rights and divine authority. Instead of a Crown, the nation was about to give Him a Cross. Instead of a palace, a grave… Only death and resurrection could open the way to any blessing at all: earthly blessing for the Jew, heavenly blessing for the Christian.
He does not say He will suffer, but that He must. One writer asks what the alternative would have been.
The Lord, who knew everything, said to His disciples over and over again, The Son of Man must suffer… How was a race of ruined sinners to be saved? … It was an absolute necessity that He should die. Without His death the Kingdom could not be set up, and we could not be saved or have all the blessing of eternal life with the Father. He had to die, and blessed be His name, He went to that Cross and suffered for us. He never turned back.
The verse names who would make Him suffer: elders, chief priests, scribes. One commentator reads the list as a picture of everything people trust in.
He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders (man's authority), the chief priests (man's religion), and the scribes (man's wisdom), and be killed. But He does not leave matters there. He adds, "and on the third day be raised."
The disciples heard the words for the first time. He did not.
When this solemn announcement came from His blessed lips, He knew the full meaning of "suffer many things and be killed." He knew before He came into the world what work He was to do… He knew the suffering, for His own Spirit was in the prophets long ago, testifying in advance to the sufferings that belong to Christ (1 Pet. 1:11). He began then to speak of these sufferings to His disciples, but He alone knew what it all meant.
Every time the Lord announced His death, the third day came with it.
How blessed that in what speaks of death, of sacrifice, there should be also in the height of the altar the pledge of resurrection. So, in speaking of His death, our Lord did not stop there, but foretold also His resurrection.
Verse 18 had just promised, "I will build my church." Commentators connect the two statements directly.
The words "from that time" are used because the Church could only be founded on His death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit came down and formed it, after God exalted Him to His own right hand.
A right confession about Christ and a heart ready for the cross are not the same thing.
Simon Peter was not yet prepared for the profound mystery of the cross. He loved Christ, and God had taught him to acknowledge Him in a very full and blessed way. But he still had much to learn. He was not ready for the truth that subdues the soul: this blessed Son of the living God must die.
- Must, because rejected — His order to stop announcing Him as the Christ accepted Israel's refusal. The nation would give Him a cross, not a crown.
- Must, because necessary — He said "must," not "will." Without His death no sinner could be saved and no kingdom could be set up.
- Must, because foreknown — He alone knew what "suffer many things and be killed" held. He knew His work before He came into the world.
- Must, because fruitful — He did not stop at death; He added the third day. Only death and resurrection could give the church its foundation.
- Must, and still hard to hear — Peter's confession was true and taught by God, yet he was not ready for the cross. Loving Christ and accepting His path are two lessons, not one.