To read: Luke 18:31-34
New Revised Standard Version Bible,Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon. After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again." But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
To think about:
"They
understood nothing about these things... they did not grasp what was said." So there have always been many to whom the Gospel is not good news - to whom it is even bad news. Jesus tells what he is to accomplish in Jerusalem according to the Scriptures to women and men shaped by the values of a consumer culture and classic models of success. They, however, cannot comprehend that the One called Son of Man should be betrayed, mocked, insulted, spat upon, flogged, and killed. The resurrection, of course, is unthinkable.
There is another kind of person who does not conform to the values of a consumer culture and classic models of success. Consider the college athlete who discovers a tumor growing in her thigh. Or remember the winsome "life of the party" who is beginning to sense that his drinking is out of control. Or the scholarship student who has suddenly found the class more difficult than any he's experienced. Or one whose parents have just announced their intentions to separate. To each of these, the experience is one of devastation: an insult, a mockery. But to each of these, suddenly the words of Jesus translate, "I must go where you are." Jesus' words say that, whatever one's experience, bad as it may be, one is not alone. And they include a promise: " ...in order that you may be where I am." In Jesus Christ, the unthinkable bad news becomes the incomprehensible good news: He is there, and where he is, the future is open.
To pray:
Gracious God: you took your place along with those who were insulted, beaten, and killed. When I have experiences in which something dies within me, help me to trust that you are with me also, and where you are there is resurrection and new life. Amen.
University of Delaware Lutheran Campus Ministry