Matthew 16:20 - Exposition
Then charged he his disciples. Immediately after Peter's confession and Jesus' promise. St. Matthew's word "charged" ( διεστείλατο ) becomes more emphatic in the other synoptists ( ἐπετίμησεν ), implying a command with a rebuke attached to it on its infringement; Vulgate, comminatus est ( Mark 8:30 ). That they should tell no man that he ( αὐτὸς )was [ Jesus ] the Christ. The received text inserts the word "Jesus," but very many good manuscripts omit it; and it seems to have been received by inadvertence, the point being that he was Messiah. The injunction to tell no man (with which comp. Matthew 8:4 ) was necessary at this time for many reasons. The time was not ripe for the declaration which might have led to tumult and disorder among an excited populace. Any ambitious ideas which the apostles might have formed from what had just passed were here nipped in the bud. They were not sufficiently familiar with the true notion of the Messiah, especially a suffering Messiah, to be competent to preach him to others. This we see by Peter's inconsiderate remonstrance in verse 22. Till they received the Holy Ghost after Christ's ascension, they could not rightly and profitably preach of Christ's nature, office, and kingdom. Jesus may have looked forward to their desertion of him in his hour of trial, and prevented them from proclaiming his real character, which, in the face of such desertion, would have proved a stumbling block to the faith of believers. Some of these reasons we may reverently believe were those which led Christ to lay this severe restriction on the enthusiasm of his followers (see on Matthew 17:9 ).
SUFFERING : JESUS ACCEPTS AND DOES NOT SHUN IT .
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