Intro to Chapter 6: The Messianic Secret
Jesus didn’t often make direct statements about who he was. When Satan faced Jesus in the desert, he made repeated attempts to get some confirmation of his suspicions of Jesus’ identity. “If you are the Christ, do this,” he said. “If you are the Christ, do that.” Jesus did none of the things Satan suggested, but he neither confirmed nor denied that he was the Christ whom Satan feared. He made no direct statement to his disciples, and when Peter makes his great declaration, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” Jesus tells them not to repeat it.
He does reveal himself to the Samaritan woman he met at the well in Sychar. Jewish men had a prayer they said thanking God that they had not been born a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. The first person to whom Jesus told his identity fit two of the three categories.