Mark 9:31-35
For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him. And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

What was the experience of the disciples? They got to live out all of these events in real time, watching things unfold, seeing amazing miracles, being taught personally by Jesus, privy to things that the crowds and multitudes were not. But they didn’t always understand, and they didn’t get everything right. They were growing and learning, and to truly grasp the reality of who Jesus was would take time, faith, experience, and many lessons along the way.

But Jesus entrusts this private information with them about what was to come for Him and consequently for them. He wants to both prepare them and prove Himself as the Christ, the one they could trust in. But then He is not afraid to call them out, in a way, to expose directly and clearly something in their hearts that needed to change. It was a teaching moment that could shift their thinking and their attitudes to more align with what He wanted for them.

Jesus is the master teacher, and we are His disciples if we’ve answered His call to follow, and so He leads and guides us in these same kinds of ways. Through His Word, we can know and understand things yet to come, the unfolding of His plan, His purposes in this world and in our lives. And then, too, we can be challenged when there are things that we need to change in our lives as we learn what Jesus wants us to be. Will we submit ourselves to the teaching of Jesus and believe in the things that He has chosen to share with us?