Luke 18:31-34 – Jesus told of His impending suffering and death

In Luke 18:31-34, Jesus again mentioned to His disciples His impending suffering and death. Here Jesus used the term “Son of Man” on Himself. There is a gross misunderstanding that this title refers to His humanity, when in reality it’s a term referring to His divinity. This title is derived from the book of Daniel. It was the prophet’s vision in Daniel 7:13-14 concerning a sweep of world history. Here the prophet described a series of beasts eventually judged by the Ancient of Day, Who is God the Father Himself.    

Whatever the case, Jesus here made known to His disciples what was coming to Him at Jerusalem, that the Son of Man must first go through a time of suffering. This was an event already foretold by the prophets in their writings. He told them of the impending intense time of shame. He revealed that He would be seized by the Gentiles. And they would mock Him and scorn Him shamelessly. They would spit, scourge and kill Him. But death could not hold Him in the grave, for on the third day He would come back from death. Even though He told His disciples explicitly that what he would go through was long disclosed in Scriptures, His disciples totally missed it.

Here in Luke, we see that Jesus emphasized it three times in verse 34: “The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.” Just imagine, they were with Him day and night for three whole years, even at this point when the Passion Week was looming large, yet they did not understand what was going to happen. In their minds there was probably no room for the suffering, dying Messiah. Theologically they were ignorant concerning what Christ had to endure for them. We are privileged today to see everything so clearly. Through history and the spirit of revelation in Christ, we understand everything clearly. What a great privilege!  

Despite knowing what His mission would entail, He saw it through. Here we see a strong display of our Lord’s resolution. Will we ever have the same unyielding resolve as Him as we seek to live for Him? He invites us to follow Him, to deny ourselves, and take up our individual cross daily and follow Him. For we know that yielding our all in sweet abandon and total surrender to Him, is the only appropriate response to all that He had done for us. Let's give Him our heart, our all!