I'm Going to Die - Matt 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34

Jesus takes some time while traveling toward Jerusalem to teach his apostles in private. He tells them that when they are in Jerusalem “the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.” I had to stop and ask myself, “why did Jesus tell them this, knowing that they weren’t going to understand or accept it?” It reminded me of when Elijah and Elisha were traveling and people kept telling Elisha “knowest thou that they Lord will take away thy master from thy head today?” Elisha didn’t want to hear it anymore than Jesus’ apostles answering, “Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.” (2ndKings 2:3) Knowing that Elijah was leaving meant that Elisha had to accept the responsibility of the prophetship, He was going to be alone, and he didn’t want to deal with that. I’m not sure if that is the same way that the apostles didn’t “understand” Jesus’ predictions of his death, but the experiences are similar.

Why did Jesus tell them, even though he knew they wouldn’t understand? Let’s think about what would happen if he didn’t. They all get to Jerusalem, Jesus rides in to the city triumphantly on a donkey, he teaches in the temple, everything is going great. Then suddenly, Judas brings guards to arrest Jesus, he’s put on trial and he’s crucified within a 24 hour period. If the apostles had absolutely no idea what was going on, they could be dragged off into different beliefs. First, if you truly believed that Jesus was the Son of God and you see mortal Romans take His life, then it would be possible for those who believed in Jesus’ divinity to think that Satan and mortal men were more powerful than Him. If this man truly is all powerful, then he shouldn’t be able to be killed, especially by the “heathens.” It’s kind of like Jesus is saying, “hey, I’m going to be killed but relax, it’s ok, I have it under control.”

This is not the first time that Jesus has foretold of his death, and one of the previous times we’re told that His words weren’t understood until they came to pass, then the apostles remembered what Jesus had said, and it made sense. As Jesus was so critical of the Pharisees, and many of them played such prominent roles in His execution, it would have been easy for any of his disciples to shift their focus from the gospel to revenge for Jesus’ death. That anger could have easily been turned towards the Romans, and the apostles could have become militia, fighting against them. Jesus wanted his disciples to remember that He had to die for an eternal purpose, that he was choosing to die for that purpose and in that specific way, and that he would be back. It could appear to someone that Jesus’ death at the hands of the Romans would have denied His divinity, but to come back from the dead, not renewed like some of the other people that had been brought back to mortality, but to be resurrected, that makes any other claim fly out the window. That proves that he is God, and he wants them to remember that.