Suffering

He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to  be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him and after three days he will rise. “ But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.  Mark 9:31-32 NIV

Peter, James and John had recently witnessed the Transfiguration.  God the Father had said, “This is my Son, whom I love.  Listen to Him.” Now Jesus is talking about being killed by men. How could the disciples put together the ideas that Jesus was the Beloved Son and that he would die violently. Surely anyone blessed by God would be protected from such a fate.  Where did that leave them?  Would they also be killed? Was part of their reluctance to ask Jesus for clarification because they didn’t want to hear the answer?

I don’t like to read passages in the Bible that remind me that I will suffer, that I need to be willing to sacrifice, that life will have its problems and sorrows.  I want to be in a glory-land of blinding light and supernatural manifestations of God’s love for me.