Jesus clearly predicted His death and resurrection multiple times to the disciples (Mark 8:31; 9:12, 30-32; 10:32-34). His language was clear, but the disciples had trouble wrapping their minds around what He was saying. Jesus said, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again” (Mark 10:33-34). This is very clear. At the first prediction, Peter understood enough to resist what Jesus had said; he tried to rebuke his master, but was rebuked by his master (Mark 8:32-33). With additional clear predictions, the disciples were to grasp that Jesus going up to Jerusalem to die was the plan of God. Yet, Peter was ready to fight to the death to prevent the arrest of Jesus (John 18:10-11) and the disciples in Luke 24:19-21 were troubled after these things took place. Even by Acts 1:6, the disciples still seem to have some expectation of Jesus restoring an earthly, political kingdom. The Messiah dying was not on their radar. When we today read the predictions Jesus gave of His death, we have the benefit of a scope that encompasses the entire plan God revealed in the New Testament and can readily see what Jesus was saying. We often find what we are looking for, but are blind to that which goes against our preconceptions. If this blindness could happen to the first disciples, it can happen to us today.

As disciples of Jesus today, we might miss what the first disciples grasped. The period of these predictions forced one to count the cost of following Jesus. Take the events of Mark 10, for example. The rich, young ruler met Jesus while He was going out on the road that led to Jerusalem (Mark 10:17). Following Jesus on that journey would require forsaking all his possessions, and he sorrowfully was not willing to make the sacrifice (Mark 10:21-23). The disciples had left all to follow the Lord on this road up to Jerusalem; they knew they were to receive new family in fellow disciples, but also persecutions, and ultimately eternal life (Mark 10:28-30). They were getting a sense that their lives and futures were bound up in the life of their Lord who came to serve and give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Around this same time, the disciples recognized going up to Judea, the region in which Jerusalem was located, was a deadly prospect since many there were seeking to kill Jesus; thus, to follow Him there was to go die with Him (John 11:7-16). How did these first disciples view dying with the Lord in baptism to be raised to a new life (Rom. 6:3-10; Col. 2:12-13; 3:3)? Certainly their view would be far from that of popular religion in our time that twists Christianity into convenience and focuses on achieving all your aspirations in this life.

Peter, who at first fiercely resisted Jesus dying and cowardly denied Him three times to save his own life, came to embrace the fact that he too would die in following in the footsteps of His Lord (2 Pet. 1:13-15; cf. John 21:17-19). Death is no great ruin to the Christian. Jesus died and was buried; however, he was raised on the third day (1 Cor. 15:4). He has been raised and still lives. The disciple who shares in His death is also bound with Him in eternal life. Far better than any accomplishment in this life is to go beyond this life to be with Jesus eternally (Phil. 1:23).