Why did Jesus go to Caesarea Philippi?

Jesus had a reason for everything He did but going to what was a pagan city is not at first obvious to the modern mind.We need to view the episode with the mind of a 1st century Jew to understand what transpired there at Caesera-Philippi or we may fail to understand the enormity of it all. Here Jesus asks the Apostles a question,Who do people say the Son of Man is?(Matthew:13-19) and they give various answers.Peter however boldly states You are the Messiah,the Son of the living God

Jesus said to him in reply, 'Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

And so I say to you, you are Kepha(rock), and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.'

Now there in Caesarea-Philippi stands a huge rock formation and on top of this rock King Herod had built a temple to the Divine Caesarand it was also here that the pagan deity [Pan] was worshipped.It is striking that Pan was the Pagan god of shepherds and that his cult was one of fertility often celebrated by orgies! Here stands Jesus Christ the Good Shepherdin opposition to the false god Pan. There where also niches carved out in the rock at Caesarea Philippi for statues of Pan and other pagan gods.At the base of this rock formation is an opening and inside this opening is a natural well,this well was not only called bottomless but was also used by the local pagans for live sacrifices.The victim was thrown into this deep well and The presence of blood downstream was seen as a sign that the gods accepted it.

In time this opening was called the gates of the Underworld(Hell)Today, the area is called Banias which is an Arabic variant of Paneas. Now we begin to see why Jesus came here with the Apostles for it was here that He states that He will build His churchand the Apostles could not miss the contrast He was making between this and the pagan church sitting on top of the rock of Caesarea-Philippi. Jesus the Good Shepherd would build His church and the gates of the underworld would never prevail against it,and Jesus makes Kephas(Peter)its Chief Steward by giving him(Peter) the Keys

While all the apostles were granted the authority to bind and loose, only Peter was given the keys. Read (Isaiah 22:19-22). The keys symbolized authority over the household of God. The keeper of the keys served as the chief steward, or Prime Minister of the house. When Christ gave Peter the keys, He was appointing him chief steward over the Church, which is the kingdom of heaven on this earth. Also, Peter's keys symbolize the use of dynastic succession, just as in (Isaiah 22:19-22 (keys pass from Shebna to Eliakim). Peter was appointed by Jesus as the chief steward of the new Davidic kingdom, and these keys have passed to 263 successors over the last 20 centuries.

The Greek Word for rock is "petra" Jesus called Simon "Kepha" which, in Aramaic, means a large rock, or massive rock formation. When the Gospel was translated into Greek, the writers translated Kepha into Petros (not petra as this was a feminine noun). This was done to masculinize the name of Peter as Petros.

Because petra in Greek can mean a small rock and the translation reads Petros, Protestants attempt to say that Jesus was calling Peter a small rock, in order to diminish Peter's significance.

But if Jesus wanted to call Peter a small rock, the translation would have read "lithos" (meaning small pebble in Greek), not "Petros."

Nevertheless, Jesus said Kepha (not "evna" meaning small pebble),so the

Petra v. Petros comparison (which really doesn't exist in Greek anyway) is irrelevant,this whole mistranslation is nothing but a later Protestant invention.