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And taking the twelve, he said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written of the Son of man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon; they will scourge him and kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said. (Luke 18: 31-34)
I pray this finds you well and blessed by the Lord, dear Friend. It is midweek and we will look at some events in Jesus' life prior to Palm Sunday. The pressure was mounting and Jesus sensed it in His spirit and in His body. What He was sent to do would not be easy and though being fully God, the fully human part was what was affecting Him. This happens to us as well. We sense what might be next and we seem helpless to do anything about what might happen tomorrow. If we prepare, it becomes easier to respond rather than react. One who reacts is usually caught unaware and fear and excitement gets the best of them and the reaction is not always a positive thing. Jesus was prepared and preparing with each day; He would react in ways the world was not used to.
Jesus has His beloved Twelve; men from His area, chosen for their hearts and for their sincere desire to know God better. Not one of the twelve was perfect, but they sensed they were on the way that would lead to perfection, not in this life, but in the life to come. Thought they had met Him, they did not yet know Him to be the Author of Life. And He who is the author of life knows not death.
His message is simple. He shares truthfully what is coming next. Jesus shares that their next stop is Jerusalem for the final act. All that the prophets had foretold would come to fulfillment in the holy city. He says that He will be delivered over to the Gentiles, who will mock Him, insult Him, and spit on Him. These things were foretold by the ancient men of God who spoke on God's behalf. The prophecies were to be fulfilled and each one held a terrible truth to the average Jew. The first is that no one expects to be betrayed by their own people, and Jesus would experience the betrayal by one of His own trusted disciples. Second, Jesus would be mocked. To be mocked is the exact opposite of being held in high esteem. It is to be degraded, and made to feel lower than an animal; one of no value. All respect and dignity stripped from Him. Jesus said He would be insulted. This is to hear the exact opposite of truth and praise. To be insult is to continue the stripping of human dignity from oneself. An insult is a terrible, hurtful statement meant to hurt, steal, and destroy one's worth. Those of us who have been insulted know the pain and shame that comes with hearing taunts and threats. The ones making the insults are reacting with anger and with little to no thoughts of the harm their vicious words are causing. The next thing Jesus would experience would be to suffer being spit upon by the most unclean people of the world, the Gentiles. This word lumps all who are not Jews, and thus considered a little above animals. A spit is the exact opposite of a kiss. A kiss is a tender, loving expression by the mouth. To hurl one's saliva upon another human is vile. A kiss give life and love to those who receive our kisses. A spit is to throw death upon someone. And the saliva of an unclean person.
You can place yourself in the Disciples' place and you being to realize you would not want to hear the complete description of what was next for your Master. The movies say, "You had me at hello," the disciples may have said, "You lost me when You said You were to be betrayed..." They may not have heard fully that Jesus said that He would be scourged, a brutal whipping by the Romans who had become masters of pain and suffering. Leather strips with metal, sharp, pointy ends attached to a wooden handle would hurt from every contact point of each strip. Leather upon flesh, metal ripping the flesh; all done to prove a point or teach a lesson. The next thing Jesus said is that he would be killed. Here, they probably stopped listening, and may have not even heard that on the third day that He would rise up from the dead. Which is why that verse reads as it does, "But they understood none of these things." The shock and pain was more than they could grasp.
I imagine I would not have slept well, if at all that night, after hearing the One whom we had placed our trust in as Messiah and King, would be taken from us by death. I believe our heroes, the disciples laid down wherever it was they were to sleep that night. The news they had heard was not what they expected, though they had heard hints from Jesus about how it would all end. As happens with us on hearing news from loved ones, we tend to think on other things.
I pray you slept well last night, and that your plans for tonight include a restful night for you as well. But, if something is troubling you or worrying you, this is a moment to turn all things over to Jesus. Jesus, Who experienced the pain and shame of human anger, understands and relates to our needs. He Who out of love suffered even death for us, will grant you and me peace if we would be ask. There is no shame in asking. There is relief and release available to us when we surrender to Jesus.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, it has been difficult to reflect on all that awaited Jesus in the week before what we now call Holy Week. What we have or might be suffering now, pales in comparison, but it is still real. My prayer for this dear reader is the relief and release that they need. I pray for them and their needs, in the Name of Jesus our Lord, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord. Seek and share the peace of Christ with all who need it.
Eradio Valverde
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