Verse 22
And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be delivered up into the hands of men; and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised up. And they were exceeding sorry.
THE SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT OF JESUS' PASSION
One additional and very significant detail is added by this recapitulation of the prophecy of his Passion. That is that he would be "delivered up," or "betrayed" as the word is translated in Matthew 10:4 (English Revised Version (1885) margin).
From Mark, it is known that Christ at that time had returned to Galilee and was in retirement there, using every possible means to instruct and prepare the apostles for the awful events looming so near in the future. The fact that they were "exceeding sorry" shows what enormous difficulty attended this revelation for them. It was, in fact, incomprehensible; and most of the things Christ taught them on that subject were to remain unrealized by them until after the events. Looming nearer and nearer were the dark scenes of Calvary, blotting out their view of the oft-repeated promises of his resurrection. The ability of finite men to understand so gargantuan a fact as God in Christ dying for the sins of the whole world was strained to the breaking point. Never was there a better example of the weakness of the flesh (all flesh) than in the shocked and perplexed attitude of the Twelve. They had been given all the facts, but full realization would come afterwards.
The curtain rings down on the retirement in Galilee. We may suppose that Jesus stressed over and over the sad outlines of the Passion; and the apostles, unable to comprehend it, nevertheless remembered his words which would spring up in their hearts unto eternal life as soon as the gloom of Calvary was drowned in the light of his resurrection.
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