In the Life of Christ
Have you ever explained something carefully and realized that the person listening could not yet take it in? I think of that as I walk with Jesus and the Twelve toward Jerusalem. He takes them aside and tells them what lies ahead: He will be handed over, mocked, flogged, and killed. Then He says, “On the third day he will rise again” (Luke 18:33, NIV). Luke adds that the disciples did not understand what He meant.
I can understand their confusion, even if I know how the story ends. They had seen Jesus heal the sick and speak with authority. They believed He was the Messiah. How could the One they followed be treated so cruelly? And what could rising on the third day mean? The words were clear enough to repeat, but the disciples could not yet fit them into their understanding of who Jesus was. Luke says that the meaning was hidden from them; we need not invent a reason the passage does not give. The NET Bible notes helpfully distinguish hearing Jesus’ words from grasping how these events could happen to Him.
Jesus, however, understands where He is going. Earlier in Luke’s Gospel, He had spoken of suffering, death, and resurrection (Luke 9:22), and Luke tells us that He set His face toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). Here He says that what the prophets wrote about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. His death will be an act of human cruelty, but it will not catch Him by surprise. He tells His friends about His resurrection before they have seen His cross.
That distinction matters to me. I do not want to speak of Jesus’ suffering as though the wrong done to Him was good. Mockery, betrayal, and killing remain wrong. Yet the Gospels show Jesus continuing toward Jerusalem with knowledge of what awaits Him. God’s saving purpose does not depend on anyone’s cruelty becoming righteous. Jesus will give His life, and death will not have the final word.
The Scriptures begin to come into focus when we read them in light of the risen Christ. Isaiah 53 speaks of a servant who bears the suffering of others. Psalm 22 gives voice to the agony of one who is despised, while Psalm 16:10 becomes part of the apostles’ proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection in Acts 2:25–32. We should read each passage in its own setting, and then listen to Jesus explain how the Scriptures bear witness to Him. Later, Luke tells us that He opened His disciples’ minds to understand them (Luke 24:44–45).
That later understanding also helps me be patient with the Twelve. They stayed near Jesus while much of what He said remained beyond their grasp. Commentator Bob Deffinbaugh writes of them, “They knew enough to follow him.” Peter G. Bolt makes a related observation about this passage: “Understanding comes only through revelation.” Their words draw me back to the disciples’ experience. They needed Jesus to show them the meaning of what they had heard, and after His resurrection, He did.
Sometimes I, too, hear a passage and realize that I have been listening through an expectation I brought with me. I may want Jesus to remove a difficulty immediately, while He calls me to follow Him faithfully through it. I may understand a promise in Scripture but struggle to trust it in a season of grief. The disciples remind me that I can bring that limited understanding to Jesus. I can keep reading, keep asking, and keep walking with Him.
I must also be careful with what this passage promises. Jesus’ prediction assures us that His death and resurrection belong to God’s saving work. It does not give me a timetable for every hardship in my own life or promise that I will soon understand every painful event. It gives me something firmer: the risen Lord who spoke truthfully to His disciples, went to Jerusalem, and met them again after they thought all hope was lost.
Today, read Luke 18:31–34 slowly. Notice what Jesus knew, what the disciples could not yet understand, and what He promised beyond His death. If you are carrying a question you cannot resolve, tell Him plainly. Then follow the One whose words became clear to His friends when He stood before them alive.
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