TEXT [Commentary]

11. Jesus’ suffering as a model of discipleship (16:21-28; cf. Mark 8:31–9:1; Luke 9:22-27)

21 From then on Jesus[*] began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him[*] for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?[*] Is anything worth more than your soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. 28 And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

NOTES

16:21 From then on. At this crucial point in Matthew’s narrative (cf. the same phrase “from then on” in 4:17), Jesus begins to make his death and resurrection explicit.

it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem. . . . He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. Jesus predicted that he would be killed but raised up later (cf. 17:9, 22-23; 20:17-19, 28; 26:2, 12, 20-32). Up to this point, this has only been implied (1:21; 10:38; 12:14, 40; 16:4). His suffering, death, and resurrection, are “necessary” in the plan of God and will fulfill Scripture (17:10; 24:6; 26:54; cf. Luke 24:26-27).

elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. The Pharisees and Sadducees are omitted from the list of Jewish religious leaders who will make Jesus suffer in Jerusalem, perhaps because the chief priests were for the most part Sadducees, and the scribes were for the most part Pharisees. The “elders” mentioned here are venerable leaders, perhaps members of the Sanhedrin or supreme court (cf. 21:23; 26:3, 47, 57; 27:1, 3, 12, 20, 41; 28:12). The elders mentioned in 15:2 were probably the ancient worthies to whom the Pharisaic traditions were traced.

16:22 Peter . . . began to reprimand him. Peter showed his own lack of understanding of Jesus’ mission (cf. Mark 8:31-9:1; Luke 9:22-27).

Heaven forbid. Lit., “may God be merciful to you!” This is an extremely strong protest against what Jesus had just said about his death and resurrection. The death of Jesus was incompatible with Peter’s notion of what the Messiah ought to be, and so it should never happen. Peter could accept the notion of a glorious Messiah (16:27-28), but not one who suffers. Peter erred here, but one should note that even the OT prophets had difficulty reconciling the sufferings and glory of the Messiah (1 Pet 1:10-12).

16:23 Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. It is striking that Peter went, in so short a time, from being the rock solid foundation on which Jesus would build the church (16:18) to being a dangerous trap or even a stone over which Jesus might stumble (cf. Isa 8:14). This is due to Peter’s mental fixation on human priorities, not divine revelation. Matthew 16:23 is the polar opposite of 16:17—Peter confessed Jesus as Messiah when he thought in line with divine revelation, but when his thinking was in keeping with human intuition, he grievously erred and functioned just as Satan had previously. The words “Get way from me, Satan” do not mean that Jesus identified Peter with the devil but that Peter’s opposition to the cross put him and Jesus in an adversarial relationship. Peter’s attempt to keep Jesus from doing the Father’s will is reminiscent of Satan’s similar attempt (4:8-10). Satan had attempted to keep Jesus from doing the Father’s will, and he would do the same with the disciples.

16:24 If any of you wants to be my follower, you must . . . take up your cross, and follow me. Jesus’ strong and stinging rebuke of Peter (compare 16:23 with 4:10) became a teachable moment for the rest of the disciples, in which Jesus explained that the cross would define not only his own future but theirs as well (cf. 10:38). Jesus could not reign as the glorious Messiah until he went to the cross as suffering servant, and his disciples, likewise, could not reign with him until they deny themselves and suffer with him. The cross is paradigmatic for Jesus and his followers alike (cf. 20:26-28).

16:25-27 The way of the cross is for the present; glory and reward will come only in the future when Jesus comes again. Jesus presents three reasons that Christ-like self-denial is the path his disciples must pursue.

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. The first reason states the double paradox that self-preservation leads to self-destruction and self-denial leads to self-fulfillment (cf. 10:39).

Is anything worth more than your soul? The second reason for self-denial speaks of the folly of gaining material wealth while losing one’s own soul (cf. 4:8; 6:19-21). It is likely that the word “soul” here refers to one’s selfhood. The implication is that true humanity is found not in the acquisition of goods but in humble service to others.

the Son of Man will come with his angels. The third reason for taking up one’s cross is the prospect of future reward at the glorious return of Jesus with his angels (13:40-41; 24:30-31; 25:31; 26:64; cf. Zech 14:5). The language of 16:27b echoes several OT passages (Ps 28:4; 62:12; Prov 24:12; cf. Sir 35:19; Rom 2:6; Rev 22:12).

16:28 some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom. This difficult statement most likely refers to the transfiguration, which occurs next in the narrative. This is discussed in more detail in the following commentary.

COMMENTARY [Text]

Matthew 16:21 is widely recognized as a crucial text in Matthew’s narrative. In one view of the structure of Matthew, 16:21 begins the third major section of Matthew with its phrase “from then on” (cf. 4:17; Bauer 1989). That threefold view of Matthew’s structure has not been followed in this commentary, but nonetheless Matthew 16:21 is the first time in Matthew that Jesus unambiguously announces his death and resurrection to his disciples. The rest of Matthew’s narrative from chapters 16–28 is encapsulated here. This announcement immediately elicited strong disagreement from Peter, who, despite his previous stirring confession (16:16), could not be more wrong in 16:22. Peter was rebuked in 16:23 just as strongly as he was blessed in 16:17; his words in 16:16 were revealed to him by God, and his words in 16:22 were strictly human in origin. In 16:24-27, Jesus turned from Peter, always the model disciple, to address the disciples as a whole with the message of cross before crown, suffering before glory, service before reign. Peter had given voice to a way of thinking that was apparently pervasive among the disciples, and all of them needed to be shown their fundamental error.

Peter’s shockingly swift decline from blessed confessor to rebuked adversary ought to speak loudly to every disciple of Jesus. For just a moment, Peter’s mindset became positively satanic, since he sought to dissuade Jesus from following the Father’s will to the cross (cf. 4:8-9). Peter heard only that Jesus would be killed—the words about resurrection did not register at all. And so it is with disciples today who all too often do not grasp that their present sufferings are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to come at Jesus’ return (16:27; cf. Rom 8:18; 2 Tim 2:11-13). The desire for a comfortable lifestyle and the avoidance of suffering is a hindrance to Kingdom work that can be overcome only by divine grace (19:23-26). Even those who have seemingly overcome the lure of self-aggrandizement and who have followed Jesus still need periodic reorientation to the values of the Kingdom, as did the sons of Zebedee and their mother (20:20-28). The values and example of “the rulers in this world” always threaten to infiltrate the Kingdom, and Jesus’ disciples need to constantly reflect on his counsel that “among you it will be different” (20:25-26). The lesson is not that glory and reward do not await faithful disciples (19:27-29), but that such are attained only after a life of self-denying service that follows in the steps of Jesus to the cross.

The Coming of Jesus in His Kingdom. According to Matthew 16:27, Jesus promised his disciples that their lives of self-denial would be rewarded at his return—in his Father’s glory with his angels. This is a clear reference to the coming of Jesus to the earth at the final judgment (13:40-41; 24:30-31; 25:31; 26:64). But 16:28 is more perplexing because it seems to emphasize the certainty of that glorious coming by stating that some of Jesus’ contemporaries would live to see “the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.” All of Jesus’ disciples died long ago, so either Jesus and Matthew were wrong (Beare 1981:360, 472-473), or the “coming” spoken of here is something other than that which ushers in the final judgment. Evangelical scholars understandably take the second option and suggest that Jesus was speaking of his transfiguration (Blomberg 1992:261; Toussaint 1980:209), his resurrection, his sending the Spirit at Pentecost, or the judgment of Jerusalem in AD 70. Some attempt to see 16:28 as a general prediction of Christ’s future glory up to his return to earth, encompassing the resurrection, ascension, Pentecost, and present heavenly session (Carson 1984:380-382; France 1985:261; Hendriksen 1973:659-660; Morris 1992:434-435).

Although the last view mentioned above has merit, the view associating this “coming” with the transfiguration seems most likely. Seen in the light of 16:28, the transfiguration, which occurred only six days later (17:1), amounts to a foreshadowing of the future glorious coming. Perhaps Keener (1999:436) is correct in saying “probably the transfiguration proleptically introduces the whole eschatological sphere.” The transfiguration was a glorious experience (17:2, 5), and though it was only temporary, it could serve as a preview of what was to come with permanence at Jesus’ future return to the earth. Some of those who heard Jesus make the prediction in 16:28—namely Peter, James and John—did witness the transfiguration (17:1). Peter himself seems to reflect on his participation in the temporary glory of the transfiguration as a confirming anticipation of the truth of Christ’s powerful future coming to the earth (2 Pet 1:16-18). For further discussion of 16:28, see Beasley-Murray (1986:187-193). A previous text that presents similar difficulties is 10:23. In the commentary on 10:23, I argued that this passage states that the mission of the church to Israel will continue until Jesus’ glorious return to the earth.

Summary of Matthew 16. Earlier in Matthew, confrontations with the Pharisees (and other religious leaders) occurred as the religious leaders responded to the words and works of Jesus (3:7; 9:3, 11, 34; 12:2, 10, 14, 24, 38). As things proceeded, however, the Pharisees began to seek Jesus out in order to initiate confrontation (15:1; 16:1; 19:3; 21:23; 22:23, 34). Their second request for a sign (16:1-4; cf. 12:38) necessitated Jesus’ warning that the disciples beware their teaching (16:5-12). This leads to what is perhaps the most crucial pericope in this Gospel, in which Jesus receives Peter’s representative confession of his messiahship and promises to build and empower his church (16:13-20). At this crucial juncture, Jesus clearly announces his death and resurrection for the first time, and then points his disciples to a self-denying lifestyle, which will be rewarded when he comes again (16:21-28).

This chapter continues to underline the theme of opposition from the Pharisees and goes a step further in that Jesus clearly tells the disciples that the opposition will lead to his death (16:21). Once again, the “little faith” of the disciples is confronted as Jesus prepares them to carry on the Kingdom mission in his absence (16:8). In spite of their weakness, they received the Father’s revelation that Jesus is the Messiah and they would become the foundation of the messianic community that Jesus would build (16:16-19). Their futures would be tied to that of Jesus; each would, like him, bear a cross on his way to future glorious reward (16:24-28).