Jesus said to his disciples,
“Pay attention to what I am telling you.
The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.”
Jesus told his disciples to pay attention because he knew that otherwise they would miss the point he wanted to make. The more unfamiliar or difficult a teaching is the more attention it requires to get it. When we don't pay attention we may hear and realize that we do not understand. This is a lesser risk. But a greater risk is to internalize it in a distorted or incorrect fashion without realizing it, thinking we understand what is being taught.
We can see how important these points were for Jesus that they emerged from a time "praying in solitude" when "the disciples were with him" as we read yesterday. Before he made he began to talk about his suffering he led them to reflect on his identity and, through Peter, to make answer about who he was. That he was the Christ of God should have helped to put them further into a posture of receptivity and listening. In today's gospel, already gathered in a place of quiet, already recollected and prayerful, Jesus commanded them to pay attention. It was as though everything was narrowing and heightening toward this very point of revelation.
When the disciples learned definitively that Jesus was the Christ of God they seem to have taken the idea and ran with it, adding their own implications and consequences nowhere suggested by Jesus himself. Rather than being made more open to listen to Jesus because of this confirmation of his authority they became less able. Just after realizing Jesus was not merely a prophet like Elijah or John the Baptist they thought they had discovered a different mold into which Jesus would fit. They correctly realized that they had found the Messiah. But they were not ready to learn what the life of the Messiah would really entail. They were preoccupied planning a quick march to victory. But Jesus himself had other plans.
“Pay attention to what I am telling you.
The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.”
Jesus wanted his disciples to hold two ideas, that of his divine origin, and that of his mission as the suffering servant, together in a creative tension. He himself knew that the disciples wouldn't understand perfectly until the plan played out. But he knew that if they had both of these ideas his own suffering would be less able to unsettle them them or scatter them. They might not know how it would turn out, but they could see it was part of the plan of Jesus himself, and therefore under his control. If they could hold both of these ideas they could have some measure of peace even amidst the storm.
But they did not understand this saying;
its meaning was hidden from them
so that they should not understand it,
and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
Peter, we know, bluntly contradicted the idea of a suffering Messiah. His paradigm did not allow for it. The other disciples sensed something fearful, but chose not to ask about the saying. Rather than this, trying to impose their own ideas, or trying not to think about it they were meant to listen with attention to the voice of Jesus, the voice with the authority of the Christ of God. This is a deep space of prayer, and it may be that there are few of us who are willing to pay attention at this point. It just seems to risky to keep listening, and we are afraid to ask Jesus to clarify. Even if there is to be suffering, if there is to be a cross, well, we still prefer that on our own terms. We prefer to plan it ourselves rather than asking Jesus, who knows all things, what his plans are and what they mean.
When we don't let Jesus define himself we risk accepting a lesser substitute unable to offer us what we truly need: salvation. When we don't let him define his plan we end up struggling with our own plans which turn out to be cisterns that cannot hold water (see Jeremiah 2:13). There will be suffering no matter which path we choose. But only if we follow Jesus will the suffering be redeemed, given meaning, and brought, eventually into the fullness of resurrected life. If we turn away from his path in fear we risk missing the glory that is meant to be the destination.
Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion!
See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD.
The old walls of Jerusalem were no longer broad enough to define the people of God, which is now transnational in the form of the Catholic Church. The Lord himself is now "an encircling wall of fire" and "the glory in her midst." So too do we have protective walls and barriers around our souls which are too narrow for the fullness of life Jesus desires to give us. We too must let God replace our walls of fear with his "encircling wall of fire". Then we will be open to all the plans he has for us and will be truly able to embody his Kingdom on earth.
Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day,
and they shall be his people and he will dwell among you.
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