While they were all amazed at his every deed
The disciples were caught up in the amazement, the success, the general aura of positivity and popularity that seemed to surround Jesus. It is telling that it was particularly at that moment that Jesus began to explain about his coming passion to the disciples, that he was "to be handed over to men". It was as though he saw their inflated enthusiasm and wanted to temper it with a dose of the reality to come. If they expected that the ministry of Jesus would always only be amazing deeds they would not be ready when the dark hour of his passion arrived.
Pay attention to what I am telling you.
The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.
He instructed them to pay attention because he knew that their attention was still mostly focused on basking on the success they had seen thus far. Peter, James, and John, in particular had just witnessed the transfiguration, but all of them had seen great things and mighty deeds. In order to process what Jesus was about to tell them would take some effort on their part to be present with Jesus there in that moment and not lost and distracted in memories of the past, however grand.
But they did not understand this saying;
its meaning was hidden from them
so that they should not understand it,
What Jesus attempted to convey at that time was such a departure from their messianic expectations, and so apparently out of line with the trajectory of his mission so far, that what he told them didn't make sense to them. They were so lost in consolation that it barely registered. Yet part of the truth Jesus wanted to convey was in fact conveyed, although it appeared to remain below the conscious awareness of the disciples.
and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
Why would the disciples have been afraid to ask if they didn't secretly intuit the meaning, at least in part? They hadn't applied the focused attention to receive the word of Jesus when it was first spoken. Now they had misgivings, unstated, but lurking ominously within them, threatening to color future experiences. But this partial reception on an unconscious level wasn't really what Jesus wanted to communicate. He wasn't merely trying to provoke them to fear or to doubt in him. He wanted them to understand that the hardships he was to face were a part of the plan, so that, rather than those things being a cause for fear, the disciples could remain confident no matter how dark things became.
Today's Gospel has a blueprint for a mature reception of divine revelation. It begins with the directive to pay attention, to not got lost either in warm fuzzies or fear, uncertainty, and doubt. This means recognizing that there is a difference between our present emotional state and what the word of God is meant to be convey. It means letting the word of God shape us and our perception of things rather than the other way around.
Of course it is the case that our ability to pay attention is fairly limited. Our ability to be distracted by our own circumstances and concerns is immense. But this isn't a dealbreaker when it comes to receiving and understanding the word of God. We take the second step of mature reception when, at times when we ourselves don't understand, we ask about it. To not ask is sometimes learned helplessness on our part, implying that the word of God is utterly beyond us. But this helplessness disregards the possibility of divine help, given both directly and indirectly, by the Spirit, and through those others who have a special teaching gift. Not asking is sometimes implicit doubt that there is not actually a good answer to be found, and fear about confronting this doubt is sometimes why we do not ask. We are afraid there may not be an answer. But of course there must be an answer if God has truly revealed himself to us. Not asking is sometimes a result of being afraid of the answer, because receiving that answer might require a change on our part, and, quite frankly, we're comfortable where we are. Let us try our best to pay attention to what Jesus is saying, to be present with him as he makes himself present to us. And let us be bold and mature about asking when we don't understand, about making ourselves in some measure responsible to ensure that misunderstandings and unconscious misgivings do not linger.
The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.
If we fail to be present during the phases when Jesus reveals himself to us we will have greater difficulty actually following him in challenging times. When Jesus was arrested it was said of the disciples that "they all left him and fled" (see Mark 14:50). We know that John at least did eventually circle back in order to be present at the cross. But we may yet wonder what difference could have been made, what comfort the disciples might have been able to offer to Jesus if they had trusted him enough to be near to him even when the dark hour arrived. Could we perhaps become such good friends to Jesus? It is precisely in receiving his revelation that we are transformed to be friends of this sort.
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you (see John 15:15).
The word of God can give us certainty and hope even in the face of the most apparently hopeless circumstances. We can learn that what was promised to Zechariah is now a reality for us:
But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.
Today is the day when the Lord himself dwells in our midst, when many nations have in fact joined themselves to the Lord. There should be nothing that can overwhelm the confidence this reality is meant to impart.
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd guards his flock.
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