Flashback Episode — Hidden Truth: Luke 9:43b-45

If you have ever wondered if Jesus or the disciples realized what would ultimately happen to the Messiah, you need to look no further than the event that our podcast focuses on this week. This event is recorded in three of the four gospels, and it gives us a very clear picture of both Jesus’ perspective on His mission, and the disciples’ lack of perspective about what Jesus was trying to warn them about.

For most of our podcast episodes, we pick just one of the gospels to focus in on, but because this event is pretty short, and because each gospel frames the disciples’ response a little differently, for this episode, we will pull in all three passages to help us discover the range of responses the disciples had. For all three passages, we will read them using the New American Standard Bible translation.

The first passage we will look at is from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 17, starting in verse 22:

²² And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; ²³ and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

If there was any question in your mind about whether Jesus knew death was in His future, this set of verses from Matthew sums it up. But what is amazing in my mind is that Jesus not only sees His death, He also sees the rest day, which is day 2, and the resurrection day, which is day 3.

But it seems as though the disciples missed that last part about the resurrection, because the passage concludes by saying, “And they were deeply grieved.” I suspect that if the disciples had heard the whole statement, concluding with Jesus’ resurrection on the third day, it wouldn’t be cause for alarm or grief, but instead it would be cause for amazement and/or joy. After all, Jesus says that people will kill Him, but He won’t stay dead!

This is how Matthew framed this event. Let’s now look at Mark’s gospel, and see how it frames the disciples’ response. Mark’s gospel has this event in chapter 9, starting in verse 30. Mark tells us:

³⁰ From there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. ³¹ For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” ³² But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.

In Mark’s gospel, we see a different picture of their response. Mark tells us they were confused, which does make sense because this prediction is both specific and unique, but it also gives another clue into the disciples when it says that “they were afraid to ask” Jesus what He meant.

Perhaps Jesus’ disciples stayed silent because no one else spoke up, or perhaps they chose to intentionally remain ignorant because each of them didn’t want to believe that Jesus would, or could, be killed. Jesus’ disciples had seen Him narrowly escape death many times before – from both angry people and from the forces of nature. I suspect that in the minds of these disciples, it would be illogical for Jesus to be captured and killed by the religious leaders. After all, every time Jesus had faced off against a group of religious leaders, Jesus was always one step ahead of any plot or scheme that they wanted to trick or trap Him with.

Fear of the truth and the choice not to ask clarifying questions stopped these disciples from learning the truth beforehand. It would only be after the resurrection, on a road leading away from Jerusalem, where a couple of discouraged disciples would ultimately learn the truth regarding the Old Testament predicting the crucified and risen Messiah.

However, while Matthew and Mark frame this event as they have, Luke puts an interesting twist on this message from Jesus to His disciples, and specifically on the disciples’ response. This event is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 9, starting in the second half of verse 43:

^43b But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples, ⁴⁴ “Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” ⁴⁵ But they did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this statement.

Luke touches on the disciples’ reaction of fear, but he also brings out an interesting observation. Luke tells us in verse 45 that the disciples “did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it”.

According to Luke, the meaning of the statement Jesus shared with them was concealed from them. This implies that while Jesus shared with them, God kept the true meaning of Jesus’ words hidden until a later time. Luke’s gospel appears to say that while Jesus spoke freely with His followers about what was coming in the near future, the Holy Spirit hid the meaning from them for reasons that only God could fully know.

However, while the language of Luke’s gospel prompts us to look to God as the one hiding the truth, it is probable that the disciples were both not ready to receive or believe in the truth. If Jesus’ disciples had realized parts of this prediction over others, they may have fought the mob that did arrest Jesus because they wanted to hold onto their own view of who the Messiah would be rather than let Jesus be the Messiah He came to be.

The big truth this event tells me is that God will sometimes keep a truth about Himself hidden until we are ready to understand it. The disciples were not ready to accept the truth of Jesus’ words, so this truth was hidden from them until they were ready to pay attention and accept what had happened.

In our own lives, living over 2,000 years later, I wouldn’t be surprised if God is hiding truth from you and me until we are ready to understand and accept it. While some people might look at this as being  an example of God being unloving or keeping secrets, it could simply be because we have some preconceived ideas about God that He wants to help us break out of first. If we trust God with our eternity, we should also trust in His timing as well.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally and prayerfully seek God first in your life and be open to learning from Him. Ask lots of questions and choose to be okay with waiting for His timing when responding to your questions. If you trust God to keep you safe for eternity, choose also to trust in His timing when leading, guiding, and helping you grow.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself with the goal of opening your heart and mind to what God wants to teach you in the events you study. God is the best teacher you could have, and the Bible is one of the best sources of knowledge when wanting to grow closer to God!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or doubt yourself away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!