Luke omitted several incidents here that the other evangelists included (Matt. 14:22-16:12; Mark 6:45-8:26; John 6:16-66). By doing so, he tied the questions of Herod and the multitude about Jesus' identity with Peter's answer to that question. This selection of material helps the reader see that the question of Jesus' identity was very important to Luke.
9:18-19 The fact that this incident happened near Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:13; Mark 8:27) was insignificant to Luke. He may have viewed it as a distracting detail even though the event transpired in Gentile territory.
However, Luke alone mentioned that Jesus was praying. He may have done so to tie this incident to the feeding of the 5,000 when Jesus also prayed (v. 16). Thus he presented the feeding and the revelation to Peter as coming in answer to prayer. Jesus' exemplary dependence on His Father is one of Luke's unique emphases (cf. 3:21; 6:12; 11:1; et al.). He showed Jesus praying before many important events in His ministry. He was evidently praying privately, though the disciples were with Him (cf. 11:1).
Jesus focused attention on the crucial issue of His identity with His question. He wanted the disciples to tell Him who the crowds (Gr. ochloi, the uncommitted masses) believed Him to be. He meant what role did the people believe He fulfilled. The disciples responded with the views that Luke had already revealed (cf. vv. 7-8).
9:20 Speaking for the other disciples Peter answered that Jesus was the Messiah whom God had sent (Ps. 2:2; Dan. 9:26; cf. Isa. 9:6-7; 11:1-16). In saying this Peter rejected the notion that Jesus was just a prophet, even one of the greatest prophets. This is how Moslems view Jesus today. Rather he believed that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.
It is not difficult to know just what Peter's concept of the Messiah was when he made this confession of faith. When Peter's brother first invited him to come and see Jesus, Andrew referred to Jesus as the Messiah (John 1:41). However, most of the Jews of Peter's day believed that the Messiah would be a descendant of David who would overthrow the Romans and establish the kingdom of God on earth. They did not view Him as deity. Matthew recorded Peter's full confession including, "the Son of the living God"(Matt. 16:16). This is a clear statement of Jesus' deity. Why did Luke not include that phrase since it would have clarified what Peter meant? Probably he did not see that as necessary since the title "Christ"had become synonymous with a divine Messiah among Gentiles to whom Luke (and Mark) wrote (cf. 1 John 5:1). Thus Luke appears to have assumed that his readers would understand Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah as a confession of His deity.
Luke omitted Jesus' prediction of the church (Matt. 16:17-19), Peter's rebuke of Jesus (Matt. 16:22; Mark 8:32), and Jesus' counter-rebuke of Peter (Matt. 16:23; Mark 8:33). These omissions enabled him to stress Jesus' prediction of His sufferings and His call to the disciples to take up their cross and follow Him. The fate of Jesus is primary in this pericope.
Evidently Jesus urged the disciples not to publicize His true identity because this would have resulted in unnecessary pressure from the Jewish multitudes. He would publicly proclaim His messiahship at the proper time, namely in the Triumphal Entry. Next Jesus gave His first clear prediction of His passion (cf. 2:35; 5:35). In view of what Jesus needed to teach the disciples, they needed to hear that rejection, death, and resurrection lay ahead for Him.
Jesus' use of the divine title "Son of Man"(v. 22) supports the fact that Peter recognized Jesus' deity. It was appropriate to use this title when speaking of His rejection since the Old Testament predicted the Son of Man's glorious reign (Dan. 7:13-14). The disciples had seen Jesus raise two people from the dead, the widow of Nain's son and Jairus' daughter. Their failure to understand that Jesus would rise from the dead was, therefore, not due to its actual impossibility but to its improbability since Jesus was the Son of Man.
Jesus proceeded to explain the consequences for disciples who choose to follow Him faithfully in view of His rejection.
9:23 The "all"must be the disciples in view of the context (v. 18). Coming after Jesus means becoming a disciple of His. Denying self is more fundamental than denying things. It involves forsaking one's personal ambitions and desires to fulfill the will of God. It means living for His sake rather than our own. Criminals going to crucifixion normally carried the crosspiece (Gr. patibulum) of their own cross.249Carrying one's own cross therefore implied bearing the reproach and burden associated with one's chosen way of life. To do this daily meant enduring these things as a disciple of Jesus day after day having no prospect of release in this life. Jesus meant that His disciples had to bear a particular burden that non-disciples did not have to bear. It is particularly the consequences associated with choosing to follow Jesus wholeheartedly that are in view. Jesus' disciples must keep following Him daily and bear the consequences of their choice that will involve loss (vv. 24-25) and shame (v. 26) for them. The implication is that we need to do this with the real possibility of laying down our lives clearly in view (cf. Gen. 22:6).
9:24-26 These verses expand the ideas of loss and shame implied in the illustration of bearing one's cross (v. 23). The contrast is first giving up what the world can provide to gain what God can give. It involves going without now with the faith that God will abundantly reward any sacrifice that a disciple makes to follow Him faithfully. Moreover it involves giving up oneself to gain something for oneself either now or later. The second contrast is between glory (i.e., a good reputation) now in the eyes of the world or in the future in God's eyes. Jesus glorified the glory available in the future by associating it with the glory of the Father and the holy angels.
"Not long before this the disciples had been actively engaged in telling the nation about the Messiah and His kingdom program. No doubt many thought the disciples were throwing their lives away. They had given up their sources of income and were in danger because they associated with Jesus. Jesus assured His disciples that they were doing the right thing. They had chosen the proper values . . ."250
9:27 In view of the following incident, the Transfiguration, the "some"in this verse appears to refer to some of the disciples, namely Peter, John, and James (cf. v. 28). The Transfiguration was a preview of the kingdom of God in which three disciples saw Jesus in the glorified state that will be His in the kingdom (cf. 2 Pet. 1:16-18). Jesus' reference to tasting death here connects with what He had just implied about the disciples possibly having to die for their testimonies (vv. 23-25). The introductory "but"implied that many disciples would die before they saw the kingdom. Jesus was anticipating His rejection (v. 22) and the consequent postponement of the messianic kingdom.
Other views of what Jesus meant include His resurrection. However most of the disciples present probably saw Jesus after His resurrection, and that event did not initiate the messianic kingdom. Others believe that Jesus referred to Pentecost. Yet most of the disciples present saw Pentecost, and Pentecost did not begin the kingdom. Another view is that Jesus meant the destruction of Jerusalem, but that event did not initiate the kingdom either. A fourth view is that Jesus meant the disciples would simply live to see the inauguration of the kingdom. Still the messianic kingdom did not begin within the lifetime of any of those disciples. Another view is that the "some"are the people present who believe in Jesus and the others are unbelievers. The problem with this view is that unbelievers are not in view in the context, and the messianic kingdom did not begin during the lifetime of any of those disciples. People who hold these views have to redefine the kingdom to include God's present spiritual rule over His own. This view of the kingdom differs from Old Testament prophecies of it as an earthly reign of Messiah.
