-THE PEREAN MINISTRY

          -Jesus Once Again Foretells of His Upcoming Death and Resurrection

-Mark 10:32-34; Matthew 20:17-19; Luke 18:31-34

-Mark tells us that Jesus went before the disciples and that the disciples were amazed and afraid. 

 “When Jesus turned his face toward Jerusalem his disciples dropped behind and hung back.  The

 outer circle of his disciples knew enough to be fearful of the consequences, and the inner circle,

 fully acquainted with the dangers, were amazed that he should dare to go thither” (McGarvey/

 Pendleton, pg 554).

            -Remember, when Jesus headed to Bethany after the death of Lazarus, Thomas had said,

             “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16, emp. add.).

-For the third time now, Jesus was informing His disciples of what awaited Him at Jerusalem.

 (For the previous two occasions, see pgs 59 and 65 of this study.)  On this occasion, more so

 than the previous two occasions, Jesus gave a more complete and detailed description of what

 awaited.

            -It seems interesting that Jesus shared these details with His apostles a short time following

             the inquiry of Peter (“Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have

             therefore?” - Matt 19:27) and just prior to the request made by James and John through the

             avenue of their mother (see below).

-Jesus was reinforcing the fact that they were not going to receive blessings and rewards in

 accordance with their expectations - i.e. a place of exaltation and honor in an earthly kingdom.

-Luke’s account tells us that the apostles “…understood none of these things…” (vs 34).

            -Rather than set aside their preconceived notions in light of the truth, they struggled to

             understand the truth in the light of their preconceived notions.

            -Notice, they did not deny the facts that Jesus related to them.  They simply didn’t understand.