Blockages to Spiritual Truth
Back to The Spiritual Essentials
One of the things convincing me that the Gospels are authentic is that if the disciples – the eye witnesses to the inside story – had any tendency to embellish the truth, they would have portrayed themselves in at least a slightly better light. These carriers of the story let themselves be portrayed as not just unremarkable but – to put it politely – as if they had below average intelligence. We see them not only squabbling over petty matters and being regularly chided by Jesus for being of “little faith,” but we find them not understanding parables until Jesus privately explained them. What seems almost incomprehensibly ignorant of them, however, is that Jesus kept telling them he would suffer and rise from the dead and it kept going straight over their heads. This is not only hinted at in every Gospel, it is specifically highlighted not just once but twice in the one Gospel:
Luke 9:22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” A week or so later, Jesus said:
Luke 9:44-45 “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.
Nine chapters later, Jesus was still teaching them about his suffering and their understanding was still abysmal.: Luke 18:31-34 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.(Emphasis mine)
In Luke alone, this is the seventh time Jesus had spoken of his future suffering (Scriptures). No doubt part of their difficulty was not realizing that Jesus this time was speaking very literally. Their inability to understand, however, is very significant to us because if these chosen men of God could miss spiritual truth, so can we. In the next page we will explore this vital matter.