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Matthew 17:22-23
Jesus has been leading and preparing His disciples for the statement that He makes in Matthew 17:22-23. The miracles that He has performed – the healings, the feeding of the multitudes from such a small amount of food, and the proclamation from the Apostle Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ (Matthew 16:13-20), are all leading up to this declaration and prophecy made by Jesus in Matthew 17:22-23; even the Pharisees have requested that Jesus show them a sign from heaven so that they could then believe (Matthew 16:1-4). Jesus has taken Peter, James, and John up a mountain and revealed to them the events of the transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13). In Matthew 16:24 (NKJV), Jesus tells His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Jesus hasn’t yet died on the cross, so this statement must have been confusing to His disciples, but He is leading them to this statement in Matthew 17:22-23 as Jesus proclaims, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” Matthew 17:23 ends with the words, “And they were exceedingly sorrowful.” The disciples of Jesus were focused only on the death of their Savior, not on the mission that He would accomplish in the victory of being raised from the dead in salvation for all who would believe in Him.
This is a promise of salvation in Christ Jesus.
We too, as did the disciples of Jesus, tend to focus on the things that we lose, or things that are taken from us in this world. But sometimes it is necessary to lose something in gaining the next step in our growth and relationship with God through Christ Jesus. The disciples of Jesus were focused on losing Him, but their focus should have been on what was to gain from His death – salvation in His being raised from the grave. This loss was the loss that saved the world from sin as Jesus has also stated in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Dear LORD,
We do not always know where You are leading us, or why You are leading us in a particular direction, but we know that Your way is the best way, and we know that as the disciples of Jesus did not understand why Jesus had to die, they would rejoice when they are filled with Your Holy Spirit as is promised in John 14:15-18,26. Please help us to believe LORD – in Christ! In Jesus name I pray, amen.