Luke 18:31-34 (NIV) Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
If this scene was not so tragic, if there had not been so much riding on what Jesus was telling them, the incredulity of the disciples would be humorous. Events were taking place around them at a furious rate, plans were being made and attacks planned virtually in front of them, and they were completely blind to it all, focused only on the hero’s welcome that they believed was waiting for Jesus in Jerusalem.
The amazing thing is that, though they were trying hard to decode Jesus’ words to them, to dig below the surface, to decipher the deep meaning of what He was saying, Jesus wasn’t speaking in code. He was laying His meaning right on the surface, accessible to anyone who would simply listen.
They were headed up to Jerusalem, and would get there later that day, before sunset. And when they got there, all of the events prophesied for the suffering and death of the Messiah would quickly unroll, just as He had been teaching them over the last several weeks. And, in case they hadn’t been paying attention (they hadn’t), He laid it all out for them in a nutshell: He would be handed over to the Romans, who would mock Him, insult Him, spit on Him and flog Him. Then they would kill Him. But He would rise again on the third day.
Again, this was about as clear as anyone could possibly say it, and it wasn’t even the first time He had told the disciples what was coming. But their hearts were hard, their minds were closed, and they couldn’t figure out what he was trying to tell them. It was only after He rose from the dead that they would finally see that Jesus really had clearly foretold every event before it happened.
Father, I’m afraid we do the same thing today with Your word. Even where the words are perfectly clear and the meaning obviously, we ignore the plain meaning of what You say, and instead we look for hidden meanings that must be intricately interpreted. And when we can’t find any, we deem the words too deep for us, and move on, completely overlooking what You simply said. But, Lord, You most often say exactly what You mean, and You mean simply what You say. Help me to understand the clear meaning of Your word, to have eyes that clearly see, ears that clearly hear, and hearts that understand what You are saying to me each day. Amen.