32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” Mark 10:32-34

Two groups of people had different reactions when they went to Jerusalem. Twelve disciples were astonished He was leading them there, while the rest were terrified. And then Jesus explained to His disciples for the third time what was about to go down. It was happening even as He spoke the words. Reality was setting in and there was no stopping it.

It’s hard to know if the other followers were afraid for Jesus or for themselves. Perhaps they too had an inkling of what was going to happen in Jerusalem so their alarm bells sounded.

It must been a surreal and sobering time for His disciples. Did they understand what it meant for them? Did they understand the baton was about to be passed on to them?

As I’ve said elsewhere in this book, they were getting it but it was slow. It was taking them time to process the reality.

Still, though, “three days later he will rise” must have been a complete puzzle to them.

“What then? What then, Jesus?” You can hear the wheels turning in their heads. No one’s done that before. You did it with Lazarus but now you’re saying it about yourself. How is it possible?

As you know, I like to put myself in the disciples’ shoes as best as I can to partially grasp the gravity of each situation. This one would have been no different. It was significantly more serious but no less puzzling for men trying to understand the Son of God.

As lights began clicking on in their heads, they more confident they’d become.

That’s the way it is with God’s grace and love as well. We don’t quite understand what He’s doing when he’s doing it, but often after the passage of time, lights begin to go off in our heads. Fortunately, the Word of God is full of riches that we merely need to mine.