Matthew 16:14

‘And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” '

Their reply brings out something about Jewish expectations. We already know about the rumour that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead (Matthew 14:2), and it is clear from this that it was quite widespread. Herod believed it out of fear, many, who had been smitten on hearing of his death, believed it out of hope. There was also a great expectation of the return of Elijah, as promised in Malachi 4:5, a promise that Jesus saw as fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist (Matthew 11:14; Matthew 17:10, compare Luke 1:17). This made sense to people as in their eyes Elijah had never died (2 Kings 2:11). He had been taken up to Heaven. The Jews still await his coming. And clearly there were also various expectations of the return of Jeremiah or other prophets. The background to these expectations come out in Jewish literature. There were, for example, many tales about Jeremiah, In 2EEsther 2:18 it was stated ‘for your help I will send my servants Isaiah and Jeremiah.' In 2Ma 15:14 Judas Maccabaeus received a vision of Onias, a former High Priest, who spoke with a venerable and glorious old man and learned that he was Jeremiah the prophet of God ‘who prays much for the people and the holy city' and who gave to Judas a golden sword as a gift from God with which to strike his enemies. So it is not surprising that some saw Jesus as a returning Jeremiah, especially in view of His expectation of suffering and subjection to the hatred of the Jewish leaders which was reminiscent of Jeremiah, and possibly also because He was seen as a prophet of doom (e.g. Matthew 11:20; Matthew 12:41). The expectation of ‘one of the prophets' demonstrates how expectant the people were that God was going to act. Thus many saw Jesus as an ‘end of the age' figure. But their beliefs fell short of the reality. Nor did it result in the repentance that alone could have brought them through to the truth.