Sshhhh!

Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Matthew 16:20

Why did Jesus not want the disciples, who in Peter’s confession had clearly reached the understanding of the heart of Jesus’ mission, to NOT proclaim Him as Messiah at that moment? I think there are two clear reasons from the text for this gag order.

1. The crowds wildly misunderstood Jesus already. They had a human-limited perspective of Him. When Jesus quizzed the disciples on the crowd-sourced opinions of Him there were too many wrong answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or some other prophet (Matthew 16:14). The crowds weren’t ready because they only had a perception of His humanity, which was too limited.

2. The nation of Israel had a different understanding of the role of Messiah than Jesus was bringing. Perhaps some of the disciples along with Peter got that Jesus as Messiah was the Son of God. But the Jews did not expect this. They wanted a political deliverer not a complete world Savior of sin. Jesus did not want or need the political aspects of their expectations. He demanded worship, and so the disciples needed to wait until He accomplished all of His mission at the cross and after the grave was conquered before declaring Him to be the Son of God.