Jesus tells his disciples not to tell others he is the Messiah.

It was always explained to me that Jesus doesn& #39;t want the masses obstructing his mission by making him into a military leader, earthly king or political pawn.

But I wonder if his real concern is his own disciples?

Despite Peter& #39;s confession, they still don& #39;t grasp that "the kingdom, the power and the glory" as defined by earth& #39;s empires have nothing to do with the Reign of God, or the community Jesus intends to build as a sign of that reign.

The disciples still don& #39;t know who "I AM" is.

You can& #39;t claim to be living in the Messiah& #39;s kingdom when you& #39;re building your own empire.

You can& #39;t wield the Messiah& #39;s power when you are using power to oppress and destroy rather than heal and liberate.

You don& #39;t glorify a servant Messiah by setting up your own thrones.

I think there are still many people who claim to follow Jesus, whom Jesus would sternly order not to tell anyone about him....because they still have no idea who he is.