And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
On the road up to Jerusalem, Jesus tells His twelve disciples what waits for Him there: insult, whipping, spitting, death. Then He adds one more item — after three days He will rise. Why did He walk toward all this with open eyes, and why did He want His followers to hear the list in advance?
Foreknown, and not taken in
Nothing on the list caught Him off guard. He named it all before it happened, because it was what He had come to do. The twelve heard Him, and took in none of it.
Numerical Bible NotesHe takes the twelve aside to tell them again what He wants them to grasp about Him. This was nothing unexpected. It was the very thing He had come for, and had given Himself to. He knew every bitter ingredient in the cup He was about to drink. There was the betrayal. There was the condemnation by the leaders of His own people, and their handing Him over to the Gentiles. Then came the mockery, the flogging, the crucifixion. Of all this He speaks to them, adding the blessed comfort of His resurrection too, on the third day. Mark tells us of the fear that had already fallen on them along the way; Luke, that even so they understood none of these things, and that this saying was hidden from them. They were dazed and stunned by the dread of a great sorrow which they had no courage to face or take in.
The record of what actually happened reads like a checklist against His words.
C. E. StuartSuch was the forecast of events sketched out on the last journey to Jerusalem, while east of the Jordan, before He reached Jericho. All was foreknown by Him. All that He said came, as we know, to pass.
Mocking and spitting foretold long before
The mockery and the spitting fulfilled words a prophet had written long before. The Sufferer answered none of it.
J. W. H. NicholThe mock trial is over, and the holy One is condemned. Now the full tide of evil passion pours out unchecked. It had been the real motive all along. They offered Him every possible insult. In mockery they spit in His face. This fulfilled the words of the prophet: "I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting" (Isa. 50:6). No cry comes from the holy Sufferer — He is struck and beaten, and still answers not a word.
His lowliness became the very opening men used to abuse Him.
William KellyHis humiliation should have made Him infinitely more precious, since it was the matchless proof of His love. Instead it gave man, under Satan's leading, the chance he wanted to insult Him to the very limit. And He did not answer back.
Guilt on both sides
The ones who mock, flog and kill here are the Gentiles. The Jewish leaders handed Him over to them. The guilt is not confined to one side.
G. V. WigramMark 10:34 says of the Gentiles that "they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him." This shows that the Gentiles are guilty not only of insulting Him, but of His death.
Ahead of them on the road
He led the way, and the disciples followed in amazement and fear.
William KellyHis calm facing of the danger astonished them. Just as strongly, they shrank from facing it themselves. They were still attached to life on earth, though they would have liked to spend it under Messiah's reign… To follow a path that led through persecution to death was still far from a privilege and an honour in their eyes. They knew even Christ in a merely human way; they had no sense yet of the glory of His death and resurrection.
Notice what He chose to tell them at that moment — not their future, but His.
George DavisonThe One who holds all authority and power was ahead of them on the road. The Lord will never let us take a step in this hostile world that He has not taken Himself… If He had told them what would happen to them, they might have run away. Instead He tells them what would happen to Him.
After three days
The closing words were the ones His followers could not take in. His enemies took them in.
The Bible TreasuryHe had spoken of His own resurrection several times… His enemies understood from His words that He was predicting the raising of His body. They asked Pilate for a guard to watch the tomb, in case His disciples came by night and stole Him away… The soldiers did guard the tomb, yet He rose.
The One spat on ends up in the highest place there is.
H. J. VineThis is what fallen man, Jews and Gentiles, did to the One who was so perfect in God's sight. But He rose from the dead the third day, and God exalted Him to His throne. Men had rejected Him, yet Stephen saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
Summary
- Foreknown — He knew every item on the list in advance, and walked into it as the thing He had come to do.
- Foretold — A prophet had written of the mocking and spitting long before. He answered none of it.
- Shared — Jewish leaders handed Him over, Gentiles carried it out; the guilt covers both.
- Led — He went ahead on the road, and told His frightened followers what would happen to Him, not to them.
- Raised — Shame is not where it ends. After three days He rose, and God set Him at His right hand.