He
took the twelve aside, and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be completed. For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on. They will scourge and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.” They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they didn’t understand the things that were said.
Luke 18:31-34
Luke 18 [29.] He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children, for God’s Kingdom’s sake, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life.”
Luke 18 [31.] He took the twelve aside, and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be completed. For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on. They will scourge and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.”
Luke 18 [34.] They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they didn’t understand the things that were said. As he came near Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the road, begging. Hearing a multitude going by, he asked what this meant. They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He cried out, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who led the way rebuked him, that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
Luke 18 [40.] Standing still, Jesus commanded him to be brought to him. When he had come near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do?”
He said, “Lord, that I may see again.”
Meaning:
Jesus had just promised that those who leave everything for God’s Kingdom will receive “many times more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life” (Luke 18:29-30). Now he takes the twelve aside and tells them plainly what it will cost him. This is the third time in Luke that Jesus foretells his suffering (Luke 9:22; Luke 9:44), and it is the most detailed. Mark and Matthew record it on the road to Jerusalem (Mark 10:32-34; Matthew 20:17-19).
- “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem”
Ever since he “intently set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51) Jesus has been travelling steadily towards Jerusalem. The city was the place of the temple and the sacrifices, but also the place where prophets were rejected. Jesus goes there not by accident but on purpose. He knows what awaits him, and he goes willingly.
- “All the things that are written through the prophets … will be completed”
Only Luke records this phrase here. The suffering of Jesus is not a tragedy that took God by surprise. It is the fulfilment of Scripture. Isaiah had written of the Servant, “I gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair. I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6). He also wrote, “But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). After the resurrection Jesus explained to his disciples that “all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44).
- “Delivered up to the Gentiles … mocked … spit on … scourge and kill him”
Jesus names each stage of his coming suffering. He would be handed over by his own people’s leaders to the Romans, mocked by soldiers, treated with contempt, spat on, flogged and killed. Every detail came true in the events of his trial and crucifixion. The psalmist had described the same scorn: “All those who see me mock me” (Psalm 22:7).
- “On the third day, he will rise again”
The prediction does not end in death. Jesus speaks of his resurrection with the same certainty as his suffering. Hosea had written, “On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him” (Hosea 6:2), and Paul later summarised the gospel as “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
- “They understood none of these things”
Luke emphasises the disciples’ failure three times in one verse. They could not fit a suffering Messiah into their hopes of a glorious kingdom. Only after Easter would their eyes be opened, when Jesus asked, “Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26).
The Significance of Luke 18:31-34
- The cross was planned in love
Jesus was not a victim of circumstances. He walked towards Jerusalem knowing exactly what would happen, because he came to give his life for others.
- When we do not understand
The disciples did not understand, yet they kept following. Believers today may also struggle to understand God’s ways in suffering. The resurrection shows that God’s purpose can be trusted even when it is hidden from us for a time.
Cross-References:
Mark 10:32-34: Mark’s account of the same prediction on the road to Jerusalem.
Isaiah 53:5: "The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed." Why the Servant suffered.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" The fulfilment preached by the apostles.
Conclusion: On the way to Jerusalem Jesus told the twelve plainly that all that the prophets had written about the Son of Man would be completed: he would be handed over, mocked, spat on, scourged and killed, and on the third day rise again. The disciples did not understand, but his words show that the cross and resurrection were God’s plan from the beginning.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible