Mark 8:27-30 (ESV)
27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
This passage marks a turning point in Mark’s gospel. In this passage the disciples finally discover who Jesus is and from now on Jesus is heading down to Jerusalem. Jesus moves, from this point onwards, from the high mountains in the north(8:27 in a southerly direction towards Jerusalem.
Caesarea Philippi was recently been developed by Herod Philip who sought to rename the town Caesarea in honour of Augustus. In this area which caused one to think of the empire of Rome, Jesus is identified as the anointed one, the king.
Jesus aks the question ‘Who do people say that I am?’ The disciples respond by saying John the Baptist, Elijah, and one of the prophets. This shows that Jesus had honoured status among the populous. Yet Jesus pushes the questioning to find what the disciples think of him. Peter answered ‘You are the Christ’.. ‘You are the anointed one’
In postexilic OT texts one finds the hope for a renewed (Davidic) monarchy, often pictured with grandiose dimensions and qualities (e.g., Hag 2:20–23; Zech 9:9–10; 12:7–13:1). Out of this hope, but probably not until sometime in the Hellenistic period (after 331 B.C.), Jews came to use māšîaḥ (and the Greek equivalent, christos) as a designation for a future agent (“messiah”) to be sent by God, usually to restore Israel’s independence and righteousness.
Green, Joel B. ; McKnight, Scot ; Marshall, I. Howard: Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 1992, S. 107
A Messiah is not simply a religious figure, but is a figure who has national and political significance. In popular usage, although there is little OT background, a messiah was the long hoped for person who would bring liberation.
ὁ Χριστός was a particularly hazardous title from this point of view. In the OT hammāšîaḥ is not a technical term for a coming deliverer (though māšîaḥ in Dn. 9:26 perhaps approaches this sense), and in the LXX there is no clear use of ὁ Χριστός in the absolute as a term for a coming deliverer. But in the later pre-Christian centuries ‘the anointed one’ and related terms, while still not occurring very frequently in anything like a technical sense, were apparently becoming a convenient repository for a range of eschatological hopes and concepts derived from or developed out of the OT. The targums give evidence of the wide currency of the term ‘the Messiah’ to sum up the hopes engendered by the OT.41 In such a situation the meaning which ὁ Χριστός would convey depended on the background of thought and community of the person using it. But given the strong popular hope of national liberation mingled with a recognition of the need for spiritual restoration of the people of God (as expressed, for instance, in Pss. Sol. 17), there is little doubt that in unsophisticated circles it would be a term with a strongly political flavour, and therefore one which was likely to be a hindrance rather than a help in communicating Jesus’ distinctive understanding of his mission.42
France, R. T.: The Gospel of Mark : A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids, Mich.; Carlisle : W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002, S. 331
It is no wonder that Jesus did not want his messiahship broadcast around the place. (Mark 8:30)
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