Spoiler alert

As we read what Jesus is doing, teaching, and saying in the book of Matthew, everything changes after 16.18.

I call this verse “the hinge” in the Gospel of Matthew. 

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

 From this point on, Jesus deals less with the multitudes and focuses in on the twelve.

And in this focusing He adds two new revelations to his elevator speech.

1. “Hey guys, grab this one, ‘I am God.’ Let’s go up this here mountain and you could see me in my normal colors.”

   
   

2. “They are going to start coming after me. They will kill me, but then, voilà, I am going to pop out of the grave.”

I notice, however, that He is not telling them the how of His death; no mention of the cross. There is a slight reference way back in Dt 21.22, but that isn’t clear enough to hang your hat on.

So the gang of twelve, and the 70, and the multitudes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees,

the scribes and everyone else were—according to this reader—unaware that the cross was where things were going to happen.

Yet, Jesus gave a hint, there in 16.24, just after the hinge statement. He was throwing it out there to see who would catch it.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

 “Come after Me… follow Me…carry your cross.”

Spoiler alert: Jesus will be carrying, then hanging upon, a cross.