Chapter III

_THE FOUR THOUSAND FED――THE CONFESSION OF ST PETER._
A.D. 29.

THE effect of these miraculous cures on the inhabitants of the half-pagan district of Decapolis was very great, and they confessed that the God who had chosen Israel was indeed above all gods[350] (Mtt. xv. 31). Before long, therefore, a great multitude, amounting to upwards of four thousand besides women and children (Mtt. xv. 38), were collected from the neighbouring region, and continued with the Lord three days (Mtt. xv. 32), beholding His works and listening to His words.

They had not, like the multitude earlier in the year, assembled for the purpose of going up to Jerusalem to keep the Passover, and their scanty provisions failing them, could only retire to their mountain-homes through the passes by which they had followed the Lord[351]. The compassionate Redeemer had no wish that they should return only _to faint by the way_ (Mk. viii. 3), and enquired of the disciples how many loaves they had with them. To this they replied, _Seven, and a few small fishes_ (Mtt. xv. 34), and were thereupon commanded to make the men sit down[352], when their scanty supply in the hands of Him, who was the true Bread from heaven, proved sufficient for the hungry multitude: they did eat and were filled, _and took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets[353] full_ (Mtt. xv. 37).

Having dismissed the recipients of His bounty, the Lord immediately entered with His disciples into a ship[354], and crossed over, according to St Matthew, _into the coasts of Magdala_[355] (xv. 39), according to St Mark, _into the parts of Dalmanutha_[356] (viii. 10), a village close by. Here, however, His stay was of no long duration, for certain Pharisees, now for the first time combined with the Sadducees, approached (Mtt. xvi. 1) with a demand that He would shew them _a sign from heaven_. This request, already twice preferred[357], and now urged in explicit terms, He, who knew the hearts of those who claimed it, would not gratify. _Sighing deeply in His spirit_ (Mk. viii. 12), and grieved at their continued unbelief, He denounced them as hypocrites, who could _discern the face of the sky_, but not _discern the signs of the times_ (Mtt. xvi. 3), and refusing to give them any other sign than that of _the prophet Jonah_ (Mtt. xvi. 4), straightway entered the vessel, in which He had come (Mk. viii. 13), and made for the other side.

Warning His disciples during the voyage against the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Mtt. xvi. 5–12; Mk. viii. 14–21), he reached the eastern shore of the lake and the neighbourhood of Bethsaida-Julias (Mk. viii. 22). Here a blind man was brought to Him, with a petition that He would touch him. Taking him, like the deaf and dumb man spoken of above, outside the village, the Lord anointed his eyes with the moisture from His own mouth, and laying His hands upon him enquired whether he saw aught? To this the sufferer looking up replied that he _saw men, as trees, walking_ (Mk. viii. 24). Thereupon the Redeemer laid His hands again upon his eyes, and his sight was completely restored.

From Bethsaida, accompanied by His Apostles, He now set out in a northerly direction, and travelling along the eastern banks of the Jordan and beyond the waters of Merom, reached the confines or _the villages_ (Mk. viii. 27) of Cæsarea Philippi[358]. In this neighbourhood, on one occasion, the Apostles found their Master engaged in solitary prayer (Lk. ix. 18), a solemn and significant action, the precursor of not a few important events[359], as now of a deeply momentous revelation. For as they resumed their journey, He addressed to them the formal enquiry, _Whom do men say that I am_?

This was not an ordinary question. He was speaking to those who had now for some time been His constant companions, hearers of His words, and spectators of the signs which accompanied them. He seems to have wished to ascertain from their own lips the results of those labours, which now, in one sense, were drawing to a close, and thence to pass on to other and more painful truths, which He had to communicate to them[360]. To this enquiry, then, the Apostles replied in words that reflected the various opinions then held amongst the people; _Some say John the Baptist, others Elias, others Jeremias, or one of the prophets_ (Mtt. xvi. 14; Mk. viii. 28; Lk. ix. 19). _But_, continued the Holy One, _whom say ye that I am_? To this the Apostle Peter, speaking in the name of the rest, made the ever-memorable reply, _Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God_ (Mtt. xvi. 16).

The object for which the question had been put was now partly achieved. By the mouth of one of their number the Apostles had expressed the conclusion, to which they had come after so long enjoying the society of their Master, that He was no other than the Messiah, the Son of God. This their testimony He accepted; acknowledged the truth of the Apostle’s confession; declared that it had not been revealed to him _by flesh and blood, but by His Father in heaven_; and bestowed upon him the promise of peculiar dignity in the Church He was about to establish (Mtt. xvi. 18, 19).

But now, having, as three Evangelists distinctly tell us (Mtt. xvi. 20; Mk. viii. 30; Lk. ix. 21), charged them strictly not to divulge the fact of His Messiahship to the world at large, He began to reveal to them strange and mournful tidings respecting Himself. _The Son of Man_, He declared, _must go up to Jerusalem, and there suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be put to death, and after three days rise again_. This was the first announcement, clear, distinct, peremptory of what lay before Him (Mk. viii. 32), revealing not only that He should suffer, but the agents in His sufferings, the form they would take, the place where He would undergo them, and their issue, a mysterious resurrection after three days. To the Apostles the announcement sounded utterly strange and inconceivable. The selfsame Peter, who, a moment before, had witnessed so noble and outspoken a confession to his Lord’s Divinity, was utterly unable even to endure the thought of His suffering. _That be far from Thee, Lord_, was his indignant reply. But with a solemn rebuke the Holy One checked his untimely expostulations, which savoured of the weakness of flesh and blood, not of holy obedience to a heavenly Father’s will. Nay more, as if to seal the words He had uttered in the presence of many witnesses, He called to Him some of the people that were standing near (Mk. viii. 34), and in their hearing, as well as that of the Apostles, bade any who would come after Him, _take up his Cross_ and follow Him, for through the gate of suffering lay the road to Glory, not only for Himself, but for all His followers (Mtt. xvi. 24; Mk. viii. 34; Lk. ix. 23).