First Prediction Of The Passion
FIRST PREDICTION OF THE PASSION
MATTHEW 16:21-28
Impulsive Peter promptly imagines himself as a prophet: a sure way to become Satan’s mouthpiece.
Peter’s confession marks a watershed in Jesus’ ministry: “from that time” he began to speak to the disciples about his impending passion. They had begun to fill the traditional concept of the Messiah with new meaning, but they were not prepared for the radical reinterpretation which Jesus now began to impart to them. A suffering Messiah was a contradiction in terms—so much so that Peter expostulated with his Master for speaking like this (16:22), and the disciple who had just been greeted as the recipient of a divine revelation was now reproved as an adversary (“Satan”) and a hindrance (16:23). In Peter’s well-meant remonstrance Jesus recognized a repetition of the wilderness temptation—the temptation to achieve his messianic destiny by some other path than that of the Father’s will (cf. 4:8-10). Peter’s reaction was natural: he thought of Jerusalem as the place of the Messiah’s enthronement, not of his humiliation. In the event, the humiliation and the enthronement were bound up together, but this was beyond the disciples’ comprehension at present. The warning of what lay ahead at Jerusalem had to be repeated at frequent intervals (cf. 17:22f.; 20:18f.).
If suffering and death was to be their Master’s lot, the disciples would have to reassess their own position. They might well be involved in his fate. To “take up one’s cross” (16:24) was no mere figure of speech for some minor inconvenience: a man who took up his cross was on his way to be crucified, and had “denied” himself in the sense of bidding a last farewell to all personal interests, hopes and ambitions (cf. 10:38f.). But the assessment should be made not by worldly standards but in the light of the day of final review and reward. In the light of that day, the man who lost his life by following Jesus would gain life eternal; the man who saved his life by turning back would incur total loss, even if he gained the whole world in the meanwhile. The Son of Man’s coming in judgment (16:27) is the occasion foreseen in Daniel 7:13f. But 16:28 need not mean that this coming would take place in the lifetime of some standing by: there might be earlier occasions for the manifestation of the Son of Man’s authority (cf. 24:30; 26:64); and the language of this verse is Matthew’s interpretation of “the kingdom of God coming with power” of Mark 9:1, which would be the sequel to the Son of Man’s passion (we may think of Pentecost; cf. Acts 1:8a).
Note If we consider the literal sense of the word translated “hindrance” in 16:23, we may see the “stone” image being carried on from 16:18: the disciple who has been hailed as a foundation stone is now described as a stumbling stone.