The context is illuminating When the Lord asked questions, it was not for the purpose of obtaining information for his own use, but to educate his audience in some aspect of truth not fully comprehended by them. An excellent example of this is when he asked, “What think ye of Christ. Whose son is he?” So in this particular question. He was fully aware of the public reaction to his teaching; the common people were still enthusiastic and flocked to hear and to be healed, and even to be fed by him. The Pharisees and official parties remained intensely critical and aggressive; and yet it is obvious that he was not out to advertise himself at their expense, nor yet to publicise the fact of his messiah-ship, for immediately afterwards we are informed that he began to teach his disciples that the Son of Man must be rejected of the elders and put to death. In the light of this they are strictly instructed to tell no one that he was the Christ.
The question arose indirectly out of his conflict with the Pharisees,who had criticised him for transgressing the tradition of the elders by eating with unwashed hands. To this he had responded by accusing them of transgressing the commandment of God by their traditions, namely in the matter of Corban. The things that defile a man are not the dirt of physical contacts but the evils that proceed from the heart of man.
The offence to the Pharisees was deep, and was commented upon by his disciples who doubtless would have restrained his words (Matt. 15.12). But the matter was one of principle to Jesus, as he explained to his disciples.
Later still the Pharisees came to him in quarrelsome mood, seeking a sign and tempting him (Matt. 16. 1). Added to the growing antagonism was the unwelcome attention with which Herod regarded him: John Baptist he had put to death, but in view of the signs he was asking, “Who is this man?” The Gospel of John adds the significant note, “The Jews sought to kill him” (John. 7. 1).
In this tense situation Jesus and the disciples retired first into the regions of Tyre and Sidon, and later into Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus tests the beliefs of his disciples and, to fortify them, warns them of his impending decease at the hands of the elders. But they are not to be ashamed of him or of his words, for the Son of Man would rise again and reward every man according to his works. Moreover, there were some standing among them who should not see death until they had seen the Son of Man coming in his kingdom — doubtless an oblique reference to his resurrection and glorification, not far ahead, upon which they disputed their claims to office in his kingdom.
Then follows the record of his transfiguration upon one of the mountains of Caesarea Philippi, accompanied by dazzling light, the words, “This is my beloved Son, hear him”, coming out of the bright cloud (Matt. 1 7. 5). A contrast has been found between this bright cloud and the “blackness, and darkness, and tempest” of Sinai, revealing the differences between the two dispensations of the Law and the Grace of Christ, making thereby a close association between the glory of the transfiguration and the glory arising from his sufferings.
Once again the disciples are instructed to be silent upon the revelation of his messiah-ship and glory.
Surely the disciples were being strengthened against the shock of his sufferings which they were unable to understand-“Lord, this shall not be unto thee.”
The restraint of Jesus claims our admiration; so, too, does the process of his direct education of his disciples. We can note that when they revealed to him that the public regarded him as John the Baptist, or one of the prophets risen again, he does not waste effort haranguing about the evils of false belief in the transmigration of souls or the immortality of the soul so common at that time, but he leads them instead to the deeper issue and to the profound confession, “Thou art the Christ of God”. The positive nature of both question and answer built up their lacking perceptions about the nature of messiah-ship and the price that had to be paid for it. He teaches truth in order to strengthen his disciples against defection: falsehood, superstition and error fall away without controversy. After his resurrection they were to remember the manner in which he had expounded the scriptures regarding his sufferings, and they imitated the forthright style in their preachings of the risen Lord.
A little quiet meditation on these events supplies a varied instruction from which all can profit.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One