Commentary - Luke 18:31-34

Bird's-eye view

Here, on the road to Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus pulls His men aside for what we might call the final and most explicit briefing on the mission. This is not the first time He has told them He must suffer and die, but it is certainly the most detailed. He is laying out the divine itinerary, showing them that the map for this final journey was drawn up long ago by the prophets. Everything that is about to happen in Jerusalem is not a tragic accident, not a political miscalculation, but rather the sovereign fulfillment of God's eternal decree. The cross is not plan B. The cross is the plan.

Jesus details the whole sordid business: betrayal, handover to the Gentiles, mockery, abuse, flogging, and finally, execution. But He does not end there. He bookends the horror with divine certainty. It begins with the certainty of prophetic fulfillment and ends with the certainty of the resurrection. Yet, in a stunning display of spiritual density, the disciples understand none of it. The meaning is veiled, hidden from them. This is a critical point. Their incomprehension is not just a matter of low IQs; it is a divinely ordered blindness that will only be cured by the very events they cannot yet grasp. Their confusion sets the stage for the earth-shattering revelation that the resurrection will be.

Outline

Commentary

31 But when He took the twelve aside, He said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be completed.

Jesus pulls the twelve aside. This is not a public proclamation; it is an executive session with his inner circle. He is preparing His men for the capstone of His earthly ministry. The word "Behold" is a summons to pay close attention. Stop looking at the crowds, stop thinking about who will be greatest in the kingdom, and look at this. We are going to Jerusalem. For the disciples, this likely still carried the ring of triumph. Jerusalem was the city of the great king, the place of enthronement. But Jesus immediately corrects their assumptions. The reason for this journey is not to receive a crown of gold, but to fulfill a script written in blood. He says that "all things" written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man "will be completed." The word here is one of finality, of purpose achieved. This is not a series of unfortunate events; it is a divine appointment. The entire Old Testament, with all its sacrifices, psalms of lament, and prophetic utterances, converges on this single point in history. The suffering of the Messiah is not an interpretive option; it is the central theme. Jesus is walking into a story that was written for Him, and He is the only one who can bring it to its proper conclusion.

32 For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon,

Now He gets specific. The fulfillment of the prophets is not going to be a glorious coronation, but a squalid and brutal affair. First, He will be "delivered over to the Gentiles." This is a profound statement. The covenant people, the Jews, will be the ones to hand their own Messiah over to the pagan Romans. This is the height of irony and the depth of rebellion. God's chosen people will conspire with God's enemies to execute God's Son. This demonstrates how God in His sovereignty uses the wicked acts of men to accomplish His righteous purposes. The Gentiles are not the prime movers here; they are instruments. Then comes the litany of humiliation. He will be mocked, mistreated, and spit upon. This is not just physical pain; it is the deepest personal degradation. To be mocked is to be treated as a fool. To be mistreated is to be handled with contemptuous violence. To be spit upon is the ultimate sign of disgust and rejection. Jesus is spelling out the shame He will endure. He is going to absorb the full measure of human filth and contempt. This is the cup the Father has given Him to drink, and He will not refuse it.

33 and after they have flogged Him, they will kill Him, and the third day He will rise again.”

The abuse escalates. Flogging was a horrific Roman practice, a scourging that tore flesh from bone. It was often a prelude to crucifixion, designed to weaken the victim to the point of death. And then the finality of it: they will kill Him. There is no ambiguity. The Son of Man is going to Jerusalem to die. This is the destination. But just as the disciples are reeling from this catalogue of horrors, Jesus drops the atomic bomb of the gospel. "And the third day He will rise again." This is the note of triumph that sounds in the midst of the tragedy. Death will not have the last word. The grave will not hold Him. The resurrection is presented here not as a hopeful wish, but as a settled part of the divine schedule. It is just as certain as the betrayal, the mocking, and the crucifixion. The cross is the path, but the resurrection is the destination. This three-day timeline is precise. God is not sloppy. The whole event, from the suffering to the glory, is meticulously planned and will be flawlessly executed.

34 But the disciples understood none of these things, and this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.

Luke hammers the point home with a threefold repetition. They understood nothing. The statement was hidden from them. They did not comprehend it. This is not simply a case of them being slow learners. A veil was over their minds. Why? Because a suffering Messiah, a crucified King, was a category that simply did not exist in their theological framework. They were expecting a political conqueror, a new David who would throw off the Roman yoke. The idea that the Messiah's path to glory was through shame, degradation, and death was utterly foreign and offensive to them. This blindness was sovereignly ordained. If they had fully understood, what would they have done? Perhaps tried to "rescue" Him, to fight for Him, and in so doing, attempt to thwart the very plan of salvation. Their incomprehension was a necessary component of the plan. God hid the meaning from them until after the resurrection. Only then, with the empty tomb as the key, would the Scriptures be unlocked. Only then would they see that the cross was not a defeat, but the very engine of victory. Their confusion highlights a central truth: spiritual understanding is not a product of human intellect, but a gift of divine revelation. Without the Holy Spirit opening our eyes, the gospel remains a hidden statement, a foolish story.

Application

The central application for us is to see the cross and resurrection not as historical footnotes, but as the central reality of our existence. Jesus walked toward His own execution with resolute purpose because it was the fulfillment of Scripture and the will of His Father. We must see our own lives in a similar light. Our trials and sufferings are not random; they are appointed by a sovereign God who is working all things for our good and His glory. We are called to follow a crucified Lord, which means we too must take up our cross.

Furthermore, we must take the disciples' confusion as a sober warning. It is entirely possible to be in the immediate presence of Jesus, to hear His words directly, and still miss the point entirely. We can be saturated in Christian activity and religious talk, and yet be blind to the central message of the gospel. Our natural minds are just as veiled as those of the disciples. We are entirely dependent on the Holy Spirit to grant us understanding. This should drive us to our knees in humility, asking God to open our eyes to see the glory of Christ in the shame of the cross. We must not trust our own assumptions or cultural narratives about what a "king" or "victory" should look like. We must let Scripture, illuminated by the Spirit, define these terms for us. The way up is down. The way to life is through death. This is the logic of the gospel, and it was hidden from the disciples then, and it is often hidden from us now, unless God in His mercy chooses to reveal it.