Caesarea

Caesarea names two places in the New Testament. The seaport Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast of Palestine — the home of Philip the evangelist, of Cornelius the centurion, and of the Herod who died in his royal robes, and the place to which the disciples conveyed Paul to save him from his enemies and to which Roman soldiers later brought him to be tried by Felix — belongs entirely to the narrative of Acts. The northern Caesarea, Caesarea Philippi, near the headwaters of the Jordan, is the city to which Jesus and his disciples come in Mark and Luke for the question that draws out Peter's confession.

The Villages of Caesarea Philippi

The northern city is named in scripture only as the setting for one journey. "And Jesus went forth, and his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi: and on the way he asked his disciples, saying to them, Who do men say that I am?" (Mr 8:27). The geography is preliminary to the question; the country around the city is where the conversation happens, "on the way." Luke's parallel does not name the city, but places the same question at the same point in the ministry: "And it came to pass, as he was praying apart, the disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Who do the multitudes say that I am?" (Lu 9:18).

The Confession on the Way

The disciples answer first by reporting the rumor of the country. "And they told him, saying, John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but others, One of the prophets" (Mr 8:28). Luke gives the same range with one addition: "John the Baptist; but others [say], Elijah; and others, that one of the old prophets has risen again" (Lu 9:19). The question then narrows to the disciples themselves. "And he asked them, But who do you⁺ say that I am? Peter answers and says to him, You are the Christ" (Mr 8:29). Luke's wording is fuller: "But who do you⁺ say that I am? And Peter answering said, The Christ of God" (Lu 9:20). In both accounts Jesus immediately silences the confession: "And he charged them that they should tell no man of him" (Mr 8:30); "But he charged them, and commanded [them] to tell this to no man" (Lu 9:21).

The First Passion Prediction

The Caesarea-Philippi pericope does not end with the title. In Mark, Jesus turns at once from the confession to the cross: "And he began to teach them, that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spoke the saying openly" (Mr 8:31-32). Peter, who has just named him Christ, takes him aside to rebuke him; Jesus turns and rebukes Peter in turn: "Get behind me, Satan; for you do not mind the things of God, but the things of men" (Mr 8:33). Luke binds the same teaching directly to the silence of verse twenty-one: "saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up" (Lu 9:22). The villages of Caesarea Philippi are, in the Gospels, the country in which the disciples first hear the Christ named and at once hear what the Christ has come to do.