¹⁷ As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. ¹⁸ “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. ¹⁹ 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

Dear God, I wish I could, just for a moment, understand how the disciples heard these words in real time. Not knowing then what I know now, what did he think Jesus meant? How was this not plain to them? Was it just too horrific to allow themselves to consider? Had he confused them so much in the past that they assumed this was some vague misdirection that didn’t really mean the literal version of what he said it meant?

But here’s the other part of this story. Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen. In fact, he encouraged it through some of his confrontations, and yet he still went to Jerusalem. Why? Because he knew it’s what humanity needed from him. One thing I thought about during this Lenten season was the idea that you, Triune God, sacrificed part of yourself for us. You still carry those scars. You made a piece yourself vulnerable to death. It’s incredible to really consider.

I still think back on the illustration I heard back in December on the incarnation. The pastor at the local First Baptist Church talked about a man that God took to observe a planet where the highest life form was dogs, but on the planet the dogs were just vicious and mean to each other. Hurting each other. Killing each other. They needed to be taught. And they needed redemption. The only way to teach them was to become a dog, show them the way of God, and then submit to their sin for their redemption.

Father, compared with you, I am no smarter than a dog. Probably less so. Help me to learn from Jesus’s life here on earth. Help me to hear your Holy Spirit speak to me today. Help me to be an embodiment of your kingdom coming and your will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Oh, Father, help me.

I pray all of this through Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen