And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
This verse marks a dramatic turning point in Jesus' ministry. He had just asked his disciples who they thought he was, and Peter had declared him to be the Messiah — the long-awaited deliverer the Jewish people had hoped for across centuries of prophecy. But immediately after that high moment, Jesus begins explaining what kind of Messiah he would actually be. "Son of Man" was a title Jesus used frequently for himself, drawn from the Jewish prophetic tradition. The "elders, chief priests and teachers of the law" together formed the Sanhedrin, the highest religious governing body of Israel. Jesus is telling his closest followers plainly and directly: the path forward leads through betrayal, suffering, death — and then, three days later, resurrection. This was not the Messiah they had imagined.
Jesus, you didn't hide the hard parts. You walked toward suffering with your eyes open and brought your friends along anyway. Help me trust that the road you are walking me down — even when it costs more than I expected — leads somewhere worth going. Amen.
The disciples had just gotten it right. Peter answered the question correctly — "You are the Messiah" — and for one bright moment everything must have felt like it was snapping into focus. Then Jesus started explaining what being the Messiah actually meant. Suffering. Rejection. Death. You can almost feel the air go out of the room. They had signed up for a revolution, and he was describing a funeral. We do this too. We sign up for the version of following Jesus that involves purpose and meaning and the sense that things are finally going somewhere — and then he starts talking about the cost. The thing you'll have to surrender. The relationship that won't survive your integrity. The Tuesday where saying yes to God means saying no to something you genuinely wanted. Jesus doesn't hide this from his disciples, and the text is careful to say he "began to teach them" — deliberate, patient instruction, not a passing comment. The road he walked, he warned them clearly, is the road they would walk too. Knowing that doesn't make it easier. But it does mean you are not walking it alone.
Jesus says he "must" suffer — using language of necessity rather than accident or misfortune. What does that word "must" tell us about the nature of God's plan and Jesus' willing participation in it?
If you had been one of the disciples in that moment, what part of Jesus' prediction do you think would have been hardest to hear? What part would you have been most likely to resist or rationalize away?
Jesus told his disciples exactly what was coming, and yet many of them still didn't fully grasp it until after the resurrection. What does that gap between hearing truth and truly receiving it reveal about how you process difficult or unwanted realities?
How does knowing that Jesus predicted and willingly chose suffering — rather than having it forced on him — change the way you relate to your own experiences of loss, rejection, or pain?
Is there something Jesus has made clear to you about the real cost of following him that you've been slow to accept? What would it look like to honestly accept that cost this week?
He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
Luke 24:6
Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Matthew 16:28
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Luke 24:44
After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
Hosea 6:2
From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Matthew 16:21
He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Matthew 28:6
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
John 2:19
And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men:
Matthew 17:22
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must [of necessity] suffer many things and be rejected [as the Messiah] by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and must be put to death, and after three days rise [from death to life].
AMP
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
ESV
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
NASB
Jesus Predicts His Death He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
NIV
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
NKJV
Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead.
NLT
He then began explaining things to them: "It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive."
MSG