As many of us do as Easter draws near, we start reading the Scriptures that talk about Jesus’ last days before His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. As I read each of the Gospel accounts, I came across some verses where Jesus is talking to the disciples on their way to Jerusalem just before His triumphal entry.
I think because we are usually focusing on Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, we can miss the few very important verses just before it.
“As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.’” (Matthew 20:17-19 NLT)
This isn’t the first time Jesus talks about His death and resurrection to the disciples. In Matthew 16:21 He tells them He’s going to suffer many things, be killed, and on the third day be raised. Again, in Matthew 17:22-23, He tells them He will be delivered into the hands of men, killed, and raised on the third day.
The Gospels of Mark and Luke also have three accounts each of Him explaining what will happen to Him. Why did the disciples not understand? There’s a clue in Luke 9:44 ESV when Jesus says, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” Was Jesus saying, Hey look guys, I’m about to tell you something really important. Don’t miss it? I think so. He needed them to pay attention and listen carefully. Then in verse 45, “But they did not understand this saying and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.”
What does the phrase, “it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it” mean?
Did God conceal it from them so that they might not perceive it yet? Was Jesus telling them all of it now, with the purpose being that they would remember and understand after the fact? But what would the purpose be for that? Why would he tell them multiple times, and here, implore them to let it sink into their ears? I think He really wanted them to listen and understand. If they hadn’t been afraid to ask Him what He meant, maybe He would have been able to help them understand. I wonder what they were afraid of? Looking silly or ignorant? Were they afraid Jesus would get angry?
Did Satan conceal it from them? I don’t think so because he didn’t know what Jesus’ death would do. First Corinthians 2:8 ESV says, “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
Could it possibly mean that their perceptions and beliefs about the Messiah prevented them from hearing the truth, even though it was spelled out so clearly for them? I believe this is the most likely reason they couldn’t perceive it. We know that many of the Jews believed the kingdom the Messiah was going to usher in was an earthly kingdom that would remove their enemies’ rule over them and make them a mighty nation.
They only had eyes for a natural kingdom on earth. Second Corinthians 2:14 ESV, says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
It’s clear to us now, even though it wasn’t clear to the disciples at that moment, that the Kingdom Jesus was ushering in was a spiritual Kingdom that could only be spiritually discerned. Until the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, there were truths they could not perceive.
Even with the Holy Spirit living in us, are there mysteries of God that we do not perceive because we have our own ideas, agendas, perceptions, and beliefs that block us from having eyes to see and ears to hear?
Lord Jesus, help us to lay down any perceptions and beliefs that keep us from clearly seeing and understanding Your Word and Your purposes and plans on the earth today. Don’t let your truths be concealed from us.
Debbie's Perspective 
Lord, I pray that we see through your eyes and not through the world’s. Let us break free of our preconceived notions. Help us to “hear” through your word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And then, Lord, help us to be bold enough to act. Because that action is going to be so different from what the world expects. It will be contrary to traditions, to other teachings, maybe even contrary to our own character. Grow us, strengthen us, live in us.