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Luke 18:34. "But they understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said." This comes right after Jesus told his apostles that He and they were heading to Jerusalem where He would be "delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon, they would scourge him and kill him, and on the third day he would rise." (Luke 18:31-33)

 

This is pretty plain language coming from a man the apostles know, love, and are certain would not lie to them. Other than the part about rising on the third day, none of what Jesus said is difficult to understand and, in fact, if one was to examine the facts and the situation dispassionately, it actually seems pretty inevitable. So why did none of the apostles understand what Jesus was saying? Why could they not grasp the meaning of His plain words? The answer lies in the verse itself - "this saying was hid from them." This implies that they were not permitted to understand, that God was allowing their minds to be clouded. Despite hearing plain, easily understandable truth, they did not "get it;" it did not register, it just bounced off their ears and their minds. Why would God (a) say something to them He knew they wouldn't understand, and (b) not let them understand it?

 

As to (a), I think this gets back to The Point of Prophecy. Sometimes something is inevitable, but God wants a prophet to tell us it is coming so that when it happens we look back and see what God was trying to tell us. This is how we learn from revelation, rather than just experience an often very confusing reality. It also gives glory to God - it shows His omnipotence and power, and that He has a plan! Very often the people were not ready to hear what the prophets said, the prophetic words just bounced off ears and minds. But, having been said, the words were there to go back to and ponder in the future (this is, in large part, what we mean when we say God's Word is a living Word - once spoken, it exists, for all time, affecting everything and everyone!).

 

As to (b), there are some truths we have to be prepared for and led to slowly. To hear and understand them all at once would be too overwhelming for us, our minds and our hearts have to be prepared, or they risk being damaged. Jesus alluded to his sufferings and death more often than just this once, and Scripture certainly laid it out as well; Jesus even said to them "everything that is written of the Son of man by the prophets will be accomplished" (Luke 18:31). So the apostles knew what was coming, but they weren't ready to process it. They needed to be prepared for the fact that the suffering servant of Isaiah, who they intellectually knew and understood to be the Messiah, was, in fact, this man, this Messiah whom they loved and followed. Jesus' suffering and death would be overwhelming for them and might, if He had not prepared them, have broken them.

 

I was out to lunch this week with a friend I haven't had a chance to catch up with in a many years. She asked me if I thought the COVID vaccine is affecting people's brains - making them unable to think clearly, and sometimes angry. I think both the vaccination and COVID itself can have these effects, but my answer was actually that I think this is mostly the result of some trying to cling to a false reality (hence the confusion), that is crumbling around them (hence the anger). I have seen this reaction before, similar to the one the apostles had here. Once, when I pointed out to a (Catholic) Obama supporter that while in the Illinois Senate he voted to let babies who survived abortions be left to die rather than receive medical care, I just got a completely blank look, like the information could not be processed, and the conversation, which had been about Obama, changed topic abruptly.

 

When we literally "can't handle the truth," but it is about to be revealed anyway, God gives us warning. He prepares us by the words of His prophets, by the signs of our times, by our experiences, and however else He can get to us. The truth can still hurt tremendously, but if we look back to everything God has said and done, we can find comfort that He knew this was coming, and that it is part of His plan. Since He does all things for good, then, He must be allowing us to experience the pain of it in order to bring about a greater good. That's the only reason He permits anything, after all!

 

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(In the spirit of full disclosure, today's verse and that from March 5 were not random. I am reading certain chapters of the Gospels during Lent, and when a verse particularly strikes me, I journal about it.)