for He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man will be handed over into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and when He is killed, on the third day He will rise again.”
Here the Lord again and more clearly speaks about the sufferings that await Him. He is not going toward suffering by chance, but consciously walking the path predetermined by God. The phrase “The Son of Man will be betrayed” shows both the sinful deed of people and the divine ordering by which salvation was to be accomplished through the cross. He speaks not only of being killed, but also of the resurrection on the third day. Thus, the cross is never separated from the resurrection. Yet the disciples’ ears still received this message with difficulty. A person easily falls in love with promises of glory, but with difficulty accepts the cross-bearing path of salvation.