INTRODUCTION

II. GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING SHIFT

III. PASSION PREDICTIONS

IV. CONTENT OF MESSAGE SHIFT

V. TARGET AUDIENCE SHIFT

VI CONCLUDING COMMENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES

WORKS CITED

SEQUENTIAL REFERENCES LISTING

I. INTRODUCTION

Our blessed Jesus' probing questions¹ to the disciples at Caesarea Philippi² (Figure 1) marked a turning point in his earthly ministry. Four noticeable shifts can be observed hereafter: (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.

II. GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING SHIFT

The event at Caesarea Philippi marks the end of Jesus' Galilean Ministry, and the beginning of his Galilee to Jerusalem Ministry. See table 1 for a selective geographical and temporal unfolding of that ministry.

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 Jerusalem³ " (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,⁴ and He healed on the Sabbath.⁵ 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, perhaps best illustrates his overt contempt and circumvention of their self-righteous religious tradition; it is fair to say that that leadership was incensed with Jesus. The conflict only intensified as Jesus withdrew from Galilee and journeyed towards Jerusalem, particularly as He drew nearer to Jerusalem. The San Hedrin, by then, had determined ⁶ to rid itself of a Jesus who was growing ever more popular with the people of the land, 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 trouble-maker. 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 159-160).

At Caesarea Philippi, shortly after Peter's confession that Jesus was the Christ (Christ is Greek for Anointed One; Messiah is Hebrew for Anointed One), Jesus began to explain to the disciples that his death and suffering was imminent (see the  "+" entries, table 1). Those sobering words must have come as a great shock to them. That seems clear from Peter's reaction, and it is likely that Peter's reaction echoed the sentiment of the rest. The disciples witnessed the great spiritual power that Jesus had displayed. Throughout that display, Jesus repeatedly guarded his identity. 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.^{7, 8, 9, 10, 11} Jesus knew the people-- including the disciples-- were not comprehending his Messiahship; he knew that only after his suffering and death, and resurrection, would there be precise comprehension of who he was, indeed, precise comprehension of Messiah, in the heart and mind of humankind. "Jesus knew the people did not understand 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.¹² 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 garden¹³ 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,¹⁴ when Peter denied him,¹⁵ when men spat upon him,¹⁶ Messiah was being reinterpreted (emphasis added). 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.¹⁷ 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,¹⁸ ' he meant he had given the world the active power of God's love and the passive helplessness of God's love (emphasis added). He gave it all. The disciple understands Messiah as suffering servant and the Kingdom as a rule of vulnerable love" (Wilke 149-151). 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 killed. 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.¹⁹ When Peter stepped to the fore and rebuked Jesus, that it would not be so, one can almost hear the shock, and denial of reality, over Jesus' fate.²⁰ How revealing. Jesus was understood to be someone that he, however, was absolutely not going to be, in those days. 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, or mentally circumvented, both his Passion predictions and the demands of the Kingdom, for we are shown that some continued to cultivate visions of pomp and power.^{21, 22}

IV. PREDOMINANT CONTENT OF MESSAGE SHIFT

After Caesarea Philippi, Jesus' message began to focus less on the nature of the Kingdom, and more on the nature of discipleship; thenceforth, he always talked about that in terms of humility, ²³ of service,²⁴ of a wholehearted commitment to the demands of the Kingdom that is ready to endure hardship and suffering, having counted the cost;^{25, 26, 27} 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.²⁸ "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 Christ's followers were now hearing is summarized in table 2.

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 towards Jerusalem and the cross, he prayed for his disciples. We learn from that prayer that the disciples were foreknown;²⁹ blessed to hear the words of Jehovah God, our Father, from the lips of Jesus. Jesus, '...told the disciples many things so they would be filled with his joy. He gave them our Father's word.³⁰ ' Indeed, even before Caesarea Philippi, Jesus explained things to the disciples that the crowds probably did not have opportunity to hear.³¹ It seems clear that this group of disciples was being prepared to carry the blood-stained 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 on a bit of 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 towards that end, some noteworthy peripheral mechanics shifted. 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 towards Judea and Jerusalem. Along the way, in no particular order, he traveled a path that included still some parts of Galilee, also Samaria, Judea of course, and Perea-- here particularly near the end of his work, circa AD 29-30. 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 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, to discipleship declaration. 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 often by his rejection of their interpretation of the Sabbath Law (Melton).

Thank You Messiah Jesus, amen.

ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES

Figure 1 First-century Palestine-Regional

 Figure 2 - First-century Palestine - Relief

WORKS CITED

Driscoll, James F., trans. Herman F. Holbrook.
"Hermon."
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
< http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07288a.htm >

Laurie, Greg, gen. ed. New Believer's Bible. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale Publishers Inc. 0-8423-3623-0.

Melton, Loyd Ph.D.
Trinity Bible College and Theological Seminary.
Newburgh, Indiana.—this study was inspired by and follows a lecture and cassette recording  given by Dr. Melton on this subject.

Niswonger, Richard L.
New Testament history.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992. 0-310-31201-9.

Regency
Holy Bible: Bible Study Helps, Harmony Of The Gospels.
Thomas Nelson Publishers,1990. 21 22 23 - 01 00.

Wilke, Richard, and Julia K. Wilke.
Becoming Disciples Through Bible Study: Study Manual. 2nd ed. Abingdon Press, 1993.

SEQUENTIAL REFERENCES LISTING

1, Mark 8:27-30
Begin Study Section: introduction

2, "An ancient city of northern Palestine near Mount Hermon in present-day southwest Syria. It was built in the first century A.D. on the site of a center for the worship of Pan (The god of woods, fields, and flocks, having a human torso and head with a goat's legs, horns, and ears)." Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation; further reproduction and distribution in accordance with the Copyright Law of the United States. All rights reserved. Philip the Tetrarch built the new city of Caesarea Philippi at Pan; he named it Caesarea in honor of Augustus, adding his own name to it to help distinguish it from the Caesarea that Herod built, which was situated on the Palestinian coast. [2]

3, Luke 9:51
Begin Study Section: Passion Predictions

4, Mark 2:23-28

5, Mark 3:1-6

6, Mark 14:1-2

7, Mark 3:11-12

8, Mark 5:35-43

9, Mark 7:24

10, Mark 8:29-30

11, Mark 9:2-9

12, John 12:12-16

13, Mark 14:32-42

14, Mark 14:43-52

15, Mark 14:72

16, Mark 14:65

17, Mark 15:22-24

18, John 19:30

19, Mark 8:34-35

20, Mark 8:31-33

21, Mark 9:33-37

22, Mark 10:35-39

23, John 13:1-17
Begin Study Section: Predominant Content Of Message Shift

24, Mark 10:42-44

25, Mark 8:34-35

26, Mark 10 23-31

27, Luke 14:25-33

28, Mark 8:31-33

29, John 17:5-9
Begin Study Section: Target Audience Shift

30, John 17:13-14

31, Mark 4:34

32, Matthew 16:13-16
Begin Table 1: Geographic Shift, Destination Jerusalem,
Selected events

33, Mark 8:27-29

34, Luke 9:18-20

35, Psalm 22

36, Psalm 23

37, Psalm 24

38, Matthew 16:21

39, Mark 8:31

40, Luke 9:22

41, Matthew 17:12

42, Mark 9:12

43, Matthew 17:22-23

44, Mark 9:30-32

45, Luke 9:43-45

46, Luke 9:51-56

47, John 7:2-10

48, Luke 10:1-24

49, Luke 10:38-42

50, Luke 13:18-21

51, John 10:22-39

52, John 10:40-42

53, John 11:1-44

54, John 11:45-54

55, Luke 17:11

56, Matthew 20:17-19

57, Mark 10:32-34

58, Luke 18:31-34

59, Mark 10:46-52

60, Luke 18:35-43

61, John 12:1-9

62, Luke 14:25-33
Begin Table 2:Jesus' Requirements For discipleship

63, Mark 8:34-34

64, John 15:1-17

65, 1 John 2:3-6