And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mark 8:31 (See also Matthew 16:21 and Luke 9:22)
Jesus began teaching this immediately after Peter’s dramatic declaration that “You are the Christ” in response to Jesus asking “Who do you say that I am?” Matthew and Mark record that Peter objected, pulling Jesus aside and saying “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” Jesus strongly rebuked him for standing in the way of God’s plan: “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” That is then followed by Jesus saying that any who wanted to join Him would have to “take up their cross“, as He was going to. (For the full context, see Matthew 16:13-27, Mark 8:27-38, and Luke 9:18-27.)
Despite all that, the disciples ran away when Jesus was arrested. They didn’t believe the women when they came back with news of the empty tomb and the angel’s message. They were in hiding when Jesus came to them after His resurrection. He had to prove that it was really Him and that He was really there in person (John 20:19-20, 24-28).
Why weren’t they ready for the crucifixion?
Servant
Jesus’ teaching above was not the first time that the Jewish people had been told of a coming Servant who would suffer and die in order to provide redemption. Isaiah has four passages known as the “Servant Songs” (Isaiah 42:1-9, 49:1-13, 50:4-11, and 52:13-53:12). To Christians, looking back post-resurrection with 20/20 hindsight, these passages seem to be obviously foretelling Jesus’ sacrifice. They include prophecies like these:
Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One,
Isaiah 49:7
To the despised One,
To the One abhorred by the nation,
To the Servant of rulers,
“Kings will see and arise,
Princes will also bow down,
Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”
He was despised and forsaken of men,
Isaiah 53:3, 5-6
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
…
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
We aren’t told exactly what Jesus said to the two men who encountered Him on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus on that first Resurrection Sunday (Luke 24:13-35). He may or may not have specifically mentioned the Servant Songs. But He definitely did talk about how the Scriptures pointed to Him, and foretold that He would have to suffer before entering the glory that was expected of the Messiah.
And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Luke 24:25-27
Acts 8:26-39 tells of Phillip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch. The eunuch was reading the Scripture, specifically one of the Servant Songs, when Phillip asked if he understood the passage. The man did not, and Phillip “beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him“. The man believed, immediately asked to be baptized, and “went on his way rejoicing“. What a message he took back to Ethiopia!
The most common explanation for why Jewish people see it otherwise is a belief that the Servant is the nation of Israel rather than a single individual. In this view, the Songs are telling of Israel’s persecution by, and on behalf of, the Gentile world.
Here is an article presenting this view, one refuting some of the points, and a comprehensive one that tries to balance both sides. This article presents a lot of research, though, that the Servant-is-Israel interpretation did not become prominent until 1000 A.D. or later; before then even Jewish rabbis interpreted the Servant as an individual. This one provides some quotes to that effect.
In any case, those who knew Jesus best had trouble looking at their friend and understanding “You are the prophesied Messiah, but those prophecies also predicted that you would suffer and die.” This clip from The Chosen portrays a fictional conversation between Jesus and His friend Lazarus, whom He has just raised from the dead. Lazarus finally gets it, and is heartbroken at what his friend will have to endure. The Bible never records for us that any of the disciples reached that point until after the fact.
Messiah
A prominent picture of the Messiah comes from the book of Daniel:
I kept looking in the night visions,
Daniel 7:13-14
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
“And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.
Isaiah says:
…There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
Isaiah 9:6-7
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
It was un-imaginable that the Messiah foretold by Daniel and Isaiah would die. Even the Servant-Song interpretations of an individual didn’t usually expect the same individual as the Messiah. He was a heroic figure, who would usher in the glorious redemption of Israel. More examples are found in Zechariah 2:10-12, Zechariah chapter 8, Jeremiah 33:14-16, and Isaiah 60-62. In fact, Jesus Himself said that He was the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1-3 (Luke 4:16-21).
The disciples may or may not have figured out that He was more than that, that He was actually God Himself. But if they did, that makes it even more un-imaginable: How could God die, and why would He do so? But Jesus had told them why:
…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Matthew 20:28, also Mark 10:45
Hero
Before I go condemning the disciples for being so dense, I have to look at myself. If someone I loved and highly respected, someone I had — rightfully — put on a pedestal, said “I’m going to be killed. I know it. I mean for it to happen.”, how would I react?
I would do everything I could not to believe them. If forced to believe, I would then do everything I could to keep it from happening. The very last thing I would do is say “OK, you do what you have to do, and I’ll support you in it.”
Why weren’t they ready for the resurrection?
I can understand why the disciples ran away from the arrest in Gethsemane, when Jesus said that the prophecies were now being fulfilled (Matthew 26:55-56, Mark 14:48-50). They were human, and not ready to follow Jesus to the cross yet (although all of them would eventually be martyred for Him). But — especially after seeing His predicted death come true — why weren’t they holding a watch party at the cemetery, waiting to greet Jesus as He came out of the tomb? Why were they surprised by the resurrection?
Even Jesus’ enemies remembered that He had predicted that He would rise from the grave. Matthew 27:62-66 tells us that the Pharisees asked that a guard be placed at the tomb to keep any trickery from making that seem to come true. Matthew 28:4 and 28:11-15 tells how effective that guard was…not!
The disciples had seen Jesus raise others from the dead: Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:22-23, 35-43; Luke 8:41-42, 49-56), the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:11-16), and — most dramatically — Lazarus (John 11:1-46). Even so, they didn’t expect that He would rise Himself. The angels at the tomb had to remind the women “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said” (Matthew 28:5-7, emphasis added; see also Luke 24:2-9).
I can’t really give a good reason why the disciples were still surprised, except simply that they were human. I doubt that I could watch my Master be tortured to death and still calmly say “It’s OK, He said He’ll be back in three days.” 1 Even if I remembered that promise in the midst of my grief and fear, I wouldn’t have the faith to believe in something that much too good to be true. Would you?
Why aren’t we ready today?
Like Isaiah warning that the Messiah would have to suffer, and then Jesus predicting that He would rise back to life after that suffering, we also have advance notice of what will happen. Jesus will return in power, as the Messiah of Daniel’s vision (Revelation 19:11-16). He will collect His people (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), and bring final judgment to all people who have ever lived (Revelation 20:11-15). Then the grandaddy of all after-parties will begin, the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7-9, 21:1-4, 22:1-5).
We don’t want to be shocked, as the disciples were, because we didn’t pay attention to the information available. Let’s learn from the disciples’ (bad) example. Let’s be ready for the party!
P.S. Here are a couple of party songs for your listening pleasure, “Resurrection” by the Gaither Vocal Band and “Living Hope” by the a-cappella Praise and Harmony Singers.
Footnotes and Scripture References
- I wrote an imaginary story of Lazarus anticipating the resurrection here.
