Jesus asks if they know he's the Messiah

Jesus Asks If They Know He's the Messiah.

Why he asks a strange question. 

Jesus asks if his disciples believe he's the Messiah or somebody else.

Peter answers, You're the Messiah, son of God, king of Israel.  

Jesus praises him, adding that God told him he was the Christ.

Matthew 16:13 Jesus went to the territory near the town of Caesarea Philippi, where he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14 "Some say John the Baptist," they answered. "Others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet." 15 "What about you?' he asked them. 'Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." 17 "Good for you, Simon son of John!" answered Jesus. "For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven. 18 And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it." 

But two chapters earlier, they acknowledge him to be the messiah--

Matthew 14:33 Then those [disciples] who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." 

Moreover, in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, three new disciples say he's the messiah.

John 1:38 Jesus turned, saw [two disciples of John the Baptist] following him, and asked, "What are you looking for?" They answered, "Where do you live, Rabbi?" (This word means "Teacher.") 39 "Come and see," he answered. (It was then about four o'clock in the afternoon.) So they went with him and saw where he lived, and spent the rest of that day with him.

40 One of them was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 At once he found his brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah." (The word means "Christ.") 42 Then he took Simon to Jesus. .... 43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Come with me!" 44 (Philip was from Bethsaida, the town where Andrew and Peter lived.) 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one whom Moses wrote about in the book of the Law and whom the prophets also wrote about. He is Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth." 46 "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," answered Philip.

47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he said about him, "Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him!" 48 Nathanael asked him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you when you were under the fig tree before Philip called you." 49 "Teacher," answered Nathanael, "you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus said, "Do you believe just because I told you I saw you when you were under the fig tree? You will see much greater things than this!" 

Apparently, it didn't count unless you learned it from God.

(One might ask if Christians today claim that God told them.) 

Meantime there's the text, "Who do you say I am?" But the disciples had said he was the messiah before.