Jesus Concealment

On the surface, Jesus is saying in this passage that he is going to be turned over to people who will kill him. In order to understand the “hidden” meaning of this passage, it is important to look at the events which both lead up to this moment and the events which followed.

This passage comes at the end of a string of miracles that Jesus has performed. Jesus first feeds 5,000 men (Luke 9:10-15) and then he heals a demon-possessed boy (Luke 9:37). The passage then goes on to say that the disciples were “marveling at all the things which Jesus did“ (Luke 9:43). This crowd had been following Jesus and they had been amazed at all they had seen him do. The tone changes when Jesus says “let these words sink down into your ears” (Luke 9:44). He is essentially saying, “if you are going to focus on one thing that I do here, don’t let it be that I raised a child from the dead, and don’t focus on the fact that I fed 5,000 men.” He is saying that, if you will let one thing seep into your hearts, let it be this: “the Son of Man is to be given up to the power of men” (Luke 9:44).

Jesus could have let all of these men continue to praise him and all of his miracles. But he puts it all to a halt and says, “there is something here that you really need to pay attention to, something far greater than all of these miracles. The Son of God is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” He is commanding them to pay attention and listen to him. If there is one great thing that Jesus wanted his disciples focus on, it is his death and his resurrection.

On Peter’s great address on the Pentecost, he tells the people, “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross”(Acts 2:22-24). This passage is saying that this great crucifixion event didn’t just happen; it had been God’s plan from the beginning of time. All along this sinless Son of God was supposed to be handed over and crucified by wicked men according to His definite, sovereign plan. Jesus says, “if there is one thing that you need to focus on, it is this event that I will be crucified and raised up.” This tells us that Jesus knew absolutely everything that was about to happen to him, yet he did it anyway. Jesus wants this idea to ‘sink into our ears.’ This idea that he would be beaten, mocked, and strung up naked on a tree to be humiliated before his people. Jesus knew that all of these things were going to take place, and he did it anyway: there is no greater love than that. Jesus knows that his end is coming, and it’s coming from God; and he doesn't react, he takes it in stride.

Essentially he is saying “no one is taking my life, I am giving it.” It wasn’t the Romans who killed Jesus. No one took his life, he gave it. He knew all of these things were going to take place, but Jesus loves his people so much that he would do it anyway. So while his disciples might be amazed by all of the miracles that Jesus is doing - feeding the 5,000 men, healing the sick, raising the dead - if there is one thing to wrap their lives around and focus on, it has to be the death and resurrection of Jesus. That is God’s central focus, that is Jesus’ central focus, and from this passage we are shown that it should be the central focus of the disciples. Even after finding the hidden meaning of the passage, however, one cannot fully understand it until he understands why the passage has a hidden meaning in the first place.

There are two possibilities as to why there is a hidden meaning in this passage. First, perhaps the disciples were in denial and refused to hear it, ultimately hiding it from themselves. They were denying what they didn’t like and agree with. “But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them that they might not perceive it” (Luke 9:45). Jesus did say a lot of things that were difficult to understand, but this didn’t seem like one of them. “The son of man is about to be handed over into the power of man” seems like a very self-explanatory statement. Yet it was “concealed” from them. It was concealed from them by their own refusal to relinquish their concept of messiah and his purposes. It was their own refusal; caused by too much of their own preconceived notions and dreams and too little of the reality that Jesus was trying to teach to them and impart to them in order to prepare them for what was coming. They didn't like the message, so they refused it, showing their lack of belief.

The second possible reason why the message was hidden was because the disciples would have tried to prevent the crucifixion of Jesus from happening. “But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them, so that they may not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask.” The text says it was “concealed from them.” Perhaps God conceals this matter from them “so that they might not perceive it.” Why does God not want them to perceive it at that moment? We do know they perceive it later because in Luke 22, when they do understand what is happening, they are still going to try to prevent Jesus from being killed. We know that because when Jesus is handed over to the soldiers, a disciple takes out his sword and swings at the soldier and cuts off his ear. And Jesus says: “No more of this.’ And he touched the man’s ear and healed him” (Luke 22:51). Then Jesus heals the soldier and says willingly: “Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there every day. But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53). This shows that while they brought all of these soldiers to take Jesus, he would have gone along willingly. But God conceals it from the disciples, because had they understood, they would have tried to prevent it. They would have tried to prevent Jesus from accomplishing the greatest thing that he could accomplish for them, and they would have missed the one event that they are supposed to wrap their minds around and make the core of their hearts.

“And they were afraid to ask him about it” (Luke 9:43) perhaps because they were afraid that this all might be true. They may have feared that suffering and death were all part of God’s plan and they didn't want that to be true. Rebellion in their hearts kept the meaning of redemption hidden from them. They feared the truth, that which they didn’t want to know, that which they were afraid to know, and so they actually didn’t know.

The disciples asked Jesus the meaning of this parable, so Jesus explained it to them. But in the case of