Mark 10:32–34

Mark 10:32–34 (ESV): Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

Passage

Another short, and very simple passage: Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem, except the disciples are walking behind Jesus. It could be because “they were amazed, and those who followed them were afraid” (verse 32 (ESV)). Jesus then pulls aside the twelve Apostles, and explains to them, again, what is going to happen to him: when they get to Jerusalem Jesus is going to be delivered to the chief priests, condemned to death, and handed over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him and flog him, and then kill him. Then, after three days, he will rise.

In this particular passage we aren’t told the reactions of the Apostles.

Thoughts

The meat of this passage is very simple: Jesus predicts his death to the Apostles, and as we’re aware, his prediction came to pass exactly as he said it would. As mentioned above the Apostles don’t even react to Jesus’ prediction this time, so we don’t know what they thought of it.

Probably the most interesting part to me is the fact that the people who are following Jesus are amazed and afraid. The ESV Study Bible had some theories as to why that might be:

1. Perhaps they were viewing Jesus as a political leader—a common misconception about his coming—and thought that he was on his way to Jerusalem as part of his mission to overthrow Rome, in which case they might have been afraid in anticipation of the upcoming battle(s). Or:
2. Perhaps they had heard of Jesus’ predictions of his impending execution, and were afraid that they’d suffer a similar fate for being his followers.

These are definitely both valid theories, but we aren’t really told by Mark which it might be.