The Caesarea Philippi Shift (holy week-1)

I. Introduction

Our Savior’s probing questions to the disciples at Caesarea Philippi¹ (Fig. 1; Mar 8:27-30) marks a solemn turning point in His earthly ministry. H.V. Morton, when visiting this area, reflected on its significance and relates so beautifully the ambiance of that highly significant moment:

“It was the summer of the year before the Crucifixion. The shadow of the Cross lay already across the path of Christ. Of all the memories of Him which a man with the Gospels in his hand conjures up along the roads of Galilee, this journey ‘into the parts of Caesarea Philippi’ is among the most solemn […]

There is a small dead volcano standing by itself on the right of the road as one travels north. Its sides are scored with tracks of lava. It is a hill made for anyone who wishes to look down upon the Sea of Galilee and to say goodbye to that lovely place. I climbed it, and, as I did so, I had the feeling that He had stood there for a moment on that summer’s day, gazing back into Galilee […]

The imagination draws a picture of Jesus on these hills gazing sadly down upon the country of His ministry, upon the chain of little towns whose people, deaf to the higher things of the spirit, clamoured only after wonders and miracles and signs. As He turned His back on the distant lake, the ridge of Hermon, dusted with snow, rose up before Him like a wall; and He turned to the Twelve as they walked on, and asked: ‘Who do men say that I am?’…” (Morton 232-33).

Four noticeable shifts (Melton) in Jesus’ ministry can be observed after Caesarea Philippi.

1. The geographical setting shifts.

2. We begin to hear Jesus’ largely unreserved and persistent prediction of His preordained Passion in His conversations with the disciples.

3. The predominant content of His teaching shifts, and,

4. His target audience shifts.

This study is interested in these four shifts; it prepares the way for a follow-on study of the events of Holy Week.

II. Geographical Setting Shift

The event at Caesarea Philippi marks the end of Jesus’ Galilean Ministry (Tab.1 see also note 4), and the beginning of His Galilee to Jerusalem Ministry. ( Tab. 2). Our Savior’s Galilee to Jerusalem ministry was His last protracted ministry; in the course of this ministry He set His face resolutely toward the Cross; toward the culmination of His earthly mission. This section is captured by comparing the location columns of tables 1 and 2.

III. Passion Predictions

“Jesus’ death was not the martyrdom of an unwilling or unsuspecting victim. He predicted his crucifixion and steeled himself for it with steadfast purpose. Luke describes his determination: ‘As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem’” ([Luk 9:51] ,Niswonger 159).

Early in His Galilean Ministry, Jesus ran into conflict with the Jewish religious leaders over issues that dealt with their Sabbath Law. For example, His disciples plucked grain on the Sabbath (Mar 2:23-28), and He healed on the Sabbath (Mar 3:1-6). Furthermore, Jesus had redefined their concept of “clean and unclean,” a concept upon which their entire religious identity was based; Jesus’ mean following and associations (by their standards) illustrates well the uncompromising outworking of what He preached (inclusion), but they saw it as overt contempt and circumvention of their religious tradition. It is fair to say the Jewish religious leaders were incensed with Jesus. The conflict only intensified as Jesus withdrew from Galilee and journeyed toward Jerusalem, particularly as He drew nearer to Jerusalem. The Sanhedrin, by then, had determined to rid itself (Mar 14:1-2) of a Jesus who was growing ever more popular with the people of the land,² and had determined a means to that end.

“A meeting of the Sanhedrin discussed a looming danger: the popularity of this miracle worker might make him the focal point for insurrection against the governing authority, and this in turn might provoke the Romans to drastic military measures against the Jewish nation. The Sanhedrin meeting determined to lay specific plans for the execution of the troublemaker. During this dangerous period (probably in the early months of A.D. 30) Jesus avoided entering Jerusalem. He would not offer up His life until the Passover season” (Niswonger 159-60).

Note that Christ [CHRISTOS] is Greek: Anointed One; Messiah [MASHIYACH] is Hebrew: Anointed One; on the human plane anointing suggests royalty, kingship; a claim of “messiah” in Jesus’ day was dangerous with respect to Roman interests.

At Caesarea Philippi, shortly after Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus began to explain to the disciples that His suffering and death was imminent (see table 2 the “+” entries). That those sobering words came as a tremendous shock to them seems clear from Peter’s reaction (no doubt Jesus perceived a blessed sorrow in the disciples too Jhn 16:4-6); it is likely that Peter’s reaction echoed the sentiment of the rest. The disciples witnessed the great power that Jesus had displayed, and one can see, by way of contrast, that their shock betrayed their misconceptions about Jesus. Importantly, throughout that tremendous display of power, there was already something afoot that was no doubt inconsistent with their conception of what was happening, and one wonders if, or to what degree, it puzzled them—we find that Jesus repeatedly guarded His identity on these occasions. For example, demons were commanded to be silent; at other times the disciples or the beneficiaries of Jesus’ mercy were commanded not to tell what they had seen or to reveal His identity (Mar 3:11-12, Mar 5:35-43, Mar 7:24, Mar 8:29-30, Mar 9:2-9). What of this perplexing command of silence—why would Jesus issue it? He knew the people, including the disciples, were not comprehending His Messiahship; indeed, they were misinterpreting it. He knew that only after His suffering and death, and resurrection, would there be precise comprehension of who He was; precise comprehension of Messiah, as also, importantly, the Kingdom of God, in the heart and mind of all. So one can appreciate that this silence guaranteed that His life would not be offered up until He was ready to offer it up—for had He allowed them (disciples, people) to talk it up presently, their misconception of Him, in that talk, would have brought on His Passion prematurely through its mundane messianic suggestions. And this could not be allowed to happen, for Omniscience’s Redemption necessarily had to be carried out to its most intricate detail—there are important details, of which only God knows comprehensively, that would have been left out, had the timing of the Cross been short circuited. As concerns the demons, it is not hard to understand that they would have happily thus derailed Redemption. After our Lord’s Passion, by His timetable, and with a right understanding, then it was time to talk it up, and unreservedly so—to get the Word out—but not until then. Notice the probably related command for the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit—they undoubtedly needed the Paraclete in more ways than one (Luk 24:49, Jhn 14:26, Jhn 15:26-27). One has to marvel at our God’s thoroughness; the far-reaching excellence in detail and design built into the fabric of Salvation, and His constant involvement and active participation in it—it is the latter that sustains and grounds Salvation; renders it unassailable, and that is a comfort to the soul.

“Jesus knew the people were not understanding who he was. They wanted his power to be Davidic; Jesus knew his power would be vulnerable love. They would wave palm branches and try to make him king; he would ride humbly on a donkey (Jhn 12:12-16). They would see the healings as magic or miracle; he wanted the healings to call people to repentance and faith. Jesus was not running a sideshow or building momentum for a power play. He was preparing to offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. He tried to explain to the disciples, but even they could not understand the nature of his relationship to God, the character of the Kingdom, the power of his suffering servant role, until he was crucified and raised from the dead […]

After the garden (Mar 14:32-42) he placed himself in the hands of others. Tradition taught that Messiah would come to the Mount of Olives and then in power enter Jerusalem. Jesus transformed the meaning of the tradition. Gethsemane, on the mount of olives, means “oil press.” Jesus, in prayer, was “pressed out” into sacramental oil for blessing the people. Jesus did what love does: He placed himself in the hands of others. So when Judas kissed him (Mar 14:43-52), when Peter denied him (Mar 14:66-72), when men spat upon him (Mar 14:65), Messiah was being reinterpreted. When the four soldiers stripped him naked for crucifixion, as was the custom, they took his garments, one each his head turban, his belt, his sandals, and his outer robe and gambled for the inner tunic (Mar 15:22-24). It was the symbol, like the body on the cross, of total helplessness, total vulnerability, love laid open. Thus when Jesus said, ‘It is finished’ (Jhn 19:30) he meant he had given the world the active power of God’s love and the passive helplessness of God’s love. He gave it all. The disciple understands Messiah as suffering servant and the Kingdom as a rule of vulnerable love” (Wilke 149-51).

The people and the disciples were undoubtedly convinced that Jesus was the Messianic hope of Jewish tradition, which expected a Davidic king, mighty in power and victorious. But Jesus was now predicting that He would be humiliated and slain. His followers were thinking winning and glory (consistent with the popular view of Messiahship), but Jesus was predicting losing and suffering. Imagine the shock and confusion that Jesus’ self-identity of “Suffering Servant Messiah” wrought in His followers’ minds, particularly when viewed over against His mighty works heretofore, and in no little way, when those followers learned that they too would suffer as a natural consequence of discipleship (Mar 8:34-35). When Peter stepped to the fore and rebuked Jesus, that it would not be so, one can almost feel the shock, the denial of reality, over Jesus’ fate (Mar 8:31-33). How revealing. Jesus was understood to be someone that He was absolutely not going to be, at that moment in time. In the days that followed, Jesus continued to predict His Passion along the way to Jerusalem, and all along the way both the people, and especially the disciples, openly resisted, no doubt mentally circumventing, both His Passion predictions, and the demands of the Kingdom, for we are shown that some continued to cultivate visions of pomp and power (Mar 9:33-37, Mar 10:35-39). It would seem that across the centuries hence the latter continues to frustrate our Lord’s Bride. So one can appreciate that our Savior’s Passion predictions to the disciples gave these messengers to be a prophetic basis from which they could ultimately cultivate a right understanding of Messiah Jesus. See note three for a short discussion of the Kingdom of God.

IV. Predominant Content Of Message Shift

After Caesarea Philippi, Jesus’ message began to focus less on the nature of the Kingdom (Mar 1:14-15), and more on the nature of discipleship. From thence He always talked about that in terms of humility (Jhn 13:1-17), of service (Mar 10:42-44), of a wholehearted commitment to the demands of the Kingdom that is ready to endure hardship and suffering, having counted the cost ( Mark 8:34-35, Mar 10:23-31, Luk 14:25-33); of living by a different set of values than the world. That is probably what He was communicating to Peter when He told him that he did not value the things of God, but the things of men (Mar 8:31-33).

“Many people do not realize that Jesus still has disciples in this day and age. While every disciple is a believer, not every believer is necessarily a disciple. A disciple is someone who has made a wholehearted commitment to follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. In one sense, you might call discipleship ‘radical Christian living.’ When you truly make a commitment to be Christ’s disciple, you will be living the Christian life as it was meant to be lived. Anything short of discipleship is settling for less than what God desires” (Laurie A30-A31). The message our Savior’s followers were now hearing is summarized in table 3.

V. Target Audience Shift

Consistent with Jesus’ message shifting predominantly to the nature of discipleship, is the shift in His target audience from the people at large to the disciples more specifically. After our Savior set His face steadfastly toward Jerusalem and the Cross, He prayed for His disciples. We learn from that extraordinary prayer that these particular disciples were anticipated (Jhn 17:5-6); they were truly blessed to hear the words of our Father from the lips of Jesus (Jhn 17:7-8, Jhn 17:14—note that this holds for the contemporary believer). Jesus, ‘…told the disciples many things so they would be filled with His joy’ (Jhn 15:11, Jhn 17:12-13; again, thus filled with joy can be the contemporary believer). Indeed, even before Caesarea Philippi, Jesus explained things to the disciples that the crowds probably did not have occasion to hear (Mar 4:34). It seems clear that this group of disciples was being prepared to carry the bloodstained banner of the Gospel to all peoples, upon the consummation of Jesus’ earthly ministry; their training was one major aspect of Jesus’ work, which was itself, however, primarily and distinctly characterized by His atoning, sacrificial death.

VI. Concluding Comments

At Caesarea Philippi Jesus’ earthly ministry took a sharp turn; it took on a different character. Fundamentally, His mission to offer Himself up to our Father as a perfect sacrifice of atonement for the sin of all of humanity did not change; that was His mission first and foremost. But toward that end some significant peripheral ministerial mechanisms shifted. With the help of the labors of many others, we have prayerfully endeavored to set forth some of these shifts in this study.

We said that our Savior’s ministry underwent a geographical shift after Caesarea Philippi; His ministry largely moved out of Galilee in the north and moved south toward Judea and Jerusalem. Along the way, in no seeming order, He traveled a path that included still some parts of Galilee, also Samaria, Perea, and ultimately Judea.

We pointed out that Jesus made numerable Passion predictions. His followers had a difficult time understanding this message; we related that Jesus’ Suffering Servant Messiahship ran counter to the pomp and power tradition that many Jews, including the disciples, embraced concerning Messiah. In their minds, Messiah was Davidic, powerful and conquering, one who would liberate their homeland from the bondage of Roman rule. But Jesus explained that the Kingdom would be brought in not through violence, but through vulnerable love. It was further pointed out that Jesus was not taken by surprise, or unwillingly, at the end.

We said that the content of His message largely shifted from Kingdom declarations, to discipleship declarations. In that regard, He always talked about discipleship in terms of humility, service, and commitment to the demands of the Kingdom.

We said that accordingly His target audience shifted from the people at large, to the disciples more specifically, the training of the latter being a major aspect of His overall mission.

Another observation should be summarized; conflict with the religious establishment marked our Lord’s early Galilean ministry, and that conflict did not mitigate with the geographical shift (or with time), in fact, it only intensified. The issues of conflict were largely over Jesus’ redefinition of this leadership’s concept of “clean and unclean,” and His disapproval of their Oral Tradition, the latter manifested oftentimes by our Lord’s rejection of their interpretation of the Sabbath Law.

And so with a Cross before Him, confused disciples around Him, indifferent or at best curious folk eyeing Him, and the multitudes blessed by His ministry heretofore behind Him, our Savior afar off stands largely alone before Jerusalem.

Praised be your name Messiah Jesus.