From
that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
Matthew 16:21
Matthew 16 [16.] Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16 [17.] Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.” Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
Matthew 16 [22.] Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
Meaning:
This verse is a turning point in Matthew’s Gospel. Peter has just confessed that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), and Jesus has told the disciples to keep this quiet for now (Matthew 16:19-20). Now that they know who he is, Jesus begins to show them what the Christ has come to do.
- “From that time, Jesus began”
Matthew uses these words only twice. The first time marks the start of Jesus’ public ministry: “From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, ‘Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 4:17). The second time, here, marks the start of his journey toward the cross. From now on, Jesus’ teaching to his disciples keeps returning to his coming death and resurrection (Matthew 17:22-23).
- “that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things”
The word “must” shows that this was not an accident or a failure of Jesus’ plans. It was God’s purpose, foretold in Scripture. Isaiah wrote of the Servant of the Lord: “But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). After his resurrection Jesus explained that “all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). Jerusalem, the city of the temple and the kings, was where the prophets had been rejected, and where the Messiah would suffer.
- “from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed”
These three groups together made up the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish council. The leaders of God’s own people would reject their Messiah. Peter himself later preached that Jesus was “delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God,” and that they had “crucified and killed” him (Acts 2:23). Human wickedness and God’s plan of salvation met at the cross.
- “and the third day be raised up”
Jesus never spoke of his death without speaking of his resurrection. He had already pointed to “the sign of Jonah the prophet”: “as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Hosea had spoken of God raising his people: “On the third day he will raise us up” (Hosea 6:2). The disciples, though, heard only the word “killed.” Peter immediately objected (Matthew 16:22-23).
The Significance of Matthew 16:21
- The cross is at the centre
Paul summed up the gospel this way: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Following Jesus means accepting a suffering and risen Saviour, not the kind of Messiah we might prefer.
- Suffering is not the end
Jesus walked toward suffering because he knew the resurrection lay beyond it. His followers can face hardship with the same hope.
Cross-References:
Mark 8:31: “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things,” Mark’s parallel.
Isaiah 53:5: “He was crushed for our iniquities.” The suffering Servant.
Hosea 6:2: “On the third day he will raise us up,” The third day in the prophets.
1 Corinthians 15:4: “he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” The heart of the gospel.
Conclusion: From the moment Peter confessed him as the Christ, Jesus began to teach that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of the leaders, be killed and be raised on the third day. This was God’s plan foretold in Scripture, and it stands at the centre of the gospel.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible