PETER'S DISCOVERY The most momentous result of the min istry up to this point is seen in the acknowledgment made by Peter (apparently with the tacit consent of his fellow disciples), "Thou art the Messiah." This was in answer to a direct question put by Jesus; and according to Matthew it was followed by a blessing pronounced upon Peter, together with the announcement "flesh and blood bath not revealed it unto thee but My Father which is in heaven" (xvi. 17). Peter's discovery was due not to any external testimony but to what we should call a spiritual in tuition; Jesus accepted the description, but enjoined His followers to keep it as a secret to themselves.
What were the reasons which led Peter to make this discovery and declaration? It is exceedingly difficult to say. Certainly they do not lie upon the surface of the Gospel narrative. There was no form of the Jewish expectation of a Messiah to which the ap pearance and activities of Jesus in the least corresponded ; He was far enough removed from a warrior-prince who should restore the political glories of David's reign; He was not less removed from the transcendental figure of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of Heaven to judge the enemies of God and of Israel. The stories of a miraculous birth were not yet current ; neither the Immanuel prophecies nor those of the Suffering Servant could give any help.
Miracles, regarded merely as evidence of supernatural power, did not point out the Messiah. It was no part of the expectation con cerning Him that He would work miracles. That the Messiah should teach, that He should claim to forgive sin, that He should seek to draw men into fellowship with Himself, that He should call them to take His yoke upon them—all these distinguishing features in the Synoptic portrait of Jesus were wanting in any picture of the Messiah drawn by Jewish imagination.
Seeking for the explanation of Peter's "confession" we appear compelled co find it in subtler forces which had been playing upon the disciples, the qualities of character displayed in the acts and words of Jesus, the influence of His personality mediated through daily intercourse, the sense of mystery and awe produced by His moral majesty ("Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord"), the growing conviction that somehow their relation to God was bound up with their relation to Him ; all this combined to produce a profound impression in the effort to describe which Peter, when challenged, grasped at the highest religious conception which could be attached to a man, and said "Thou art the Messiah." Neither for Jesus nor for His disciples was the title adequate. It had many associations which were actually out of harmony with His true mission and with the methods by which it was to be ac complished. Yet it was the best available description of the voca tion which He had accepted, which His followers felt Him to be fulfilling. The title placed Him in direct connection with the delivering or redeeming purpose of God revealed by the prophets, and with the divine theodicy expected by the Jews.
Prediction of Suffering and Death.—According to these Evan gelists Jesus proceeded at once to exhibit more clearly His con ception of the Messianic vocation by the startling and reiterated announcement of His impending arrest, death and resurrection. He
foresaw His fate, and accepted it as part of the Divine purpose He was called to fulfil. He was to transform the role of the Messiah into that of the Suffering Servant. The disciples were utterly per plexed or frankly incredulous. "This saying was hid from them" and they did not understand what was said. The Transfiguration which followed on the first of these announcements is best under stood as a parallel to the Baptism and a fore-gleam of the Resur rection. In it Jesus received the Divine confirmation of His self devotion to the way of the Cross ; He stood in line and in harmony with the monumental figures in the Divine revelation, and He en joyed a foretaste of "the glory that should follow." From that time forward we see Him with His face "set to go unto Jerusalem"; for, as He said, "it cannot be that a prophet perish away from Jerusalem." And we get in Mark the wonderful silhouette, as of figures on the sky-line and against the sunset, Jesus in front and alone "iam totus in passione sua" as Bengel puts it ; behind him the twelve or the inner circle of disciples, who were "the nearest bit of the world for Him as He was the first inkling of eternity for them"; they were filled with awe and wonder. Behind them again came those less closely attached, less akin to His spirit ; and "they were afraid." So these Evangelists bring Jesus to Jerusalem by way of Jericho. The feast of Passover was approaching. Crowds cf pilgrims, many of them from Galilee, travelled by the same road. Jesus for a mo ment dropped the veil which concealed His Messiahship from all but those who were in spiritual sympathy with Himself. He ar ranged to enter the city in a guise which would recall a Messianic prophecy of Zechariah, "lowly and riding upon an ass," a Mes siah who was a man of peace. Whether the crowd recognized the symbol, or whether it was the prophet of Galilee whom they recog nized, a wave of enthusiasm seized them. They surrounded Him with joyous acclamations and so conducted Him to the gate of the city. Either on the same or the following day He visited the Temple, and being moved to indignation at its desecration through the exploiting of the religious needs of the people by avaricious traffickers and money-changers, drove them forth before Him by the force of His anger. They had turned God's house of prayer into "a bandit's cave." This drastic exhibition of moral authority seems to have been the cause which brought to a head the hos tility of "the chief priests and scribes," among whom the former at any rate reaped a rich revenue from the traffic. They finally resolved on His destruction, but felt compelled by His popularity with the people, especially the Galilean pilgrims, to proceed with caution. The following days were spent by Jesus in the courts and porticoes of the Temple, where He taught and dealt with questions, some captious, some sincere, which were submitted to Him by opponents or by friends. The nights He appears to have spent at Bethany or on the Mount of Olives.