Matthew 17:22-23: Delivered but not Distressed

“The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” Jesus in Matthew 17:22

“Jesus is… no pale-faced altar boy with his hair parted in the middle, speaking softly, avoiding confrontation, who at last gets himself killed because he has no way out….He is the Lord of hosts, the captain of angel armies.  And when Christ returns, he is at the head of a dreadful company, mounted on a white horse, with a double-edged sword, his robe dipped in blood.”  (John Eldridge, Wild at Heart, p. 29) 

Down from the mountain where Jesus was transfigured, which was witnessed by Peter, James and John (v. 1),  Jesus and his disciples are coming back together and gathering in Galilee (v. 22).   The incident with the demon-possessed boy and Jesus’ words about faith are both fresh in the disciples’ minds.   With that as the context, Jesus reminds the disciples again of what he told them in 16:21.  Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men…” (v. 22).

Jesus is the fulfillment of the long-awaited Son of Man as prophesied in Daniel 7:13 and fully realized in Revelation chapters 14 and 19.  (See devotion on 24:30 “Son of Man Cometh”).  We have the benefit of looking back and seeing this fulfillment clearly. But the disciples, in the midst of it all, were still trying to sort it out. They were still expecting Jesus to be a political messiah. Even at his ascension the disciples asked if it was then that the kingdom of Israel was to be restored (see Acts 1:6).  Here in 17:22-23 they did not understand Christ was to be first the suffering Messiah, delivered into the hands of men (v 22).   

That Almighty God would allow this seems unfathomable!   But by the Holy Spirit, we learn it is the Master’s plan that he be delivered into the hands of men and that they will kill him (v. 23).  His death, burial and resurrection bring about maximum glory for the Father, reconciling man and restoring creation.   John MacArthur says in his commentary, “Jesus was neither helpless nor passive about going to the cross.” In fact, he was “walking ahead” of his disciples on the road to Jerusalem (Mark 10:32).

Jesus also said he will be raised on the third day (v. 23).  But as MacArthur points out in his commentary, the disciples had no category for this.  Like Martha at Lazarus’ tomb, the disciples may have thought Jesus was speaking figuratively of the “resurrection on the last day,” (John 11:24).

Luke adds that “they did not understanding this saying and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it.  And they were afraid to ask him about this saying,” (Luke 9:45).  Only after the resurrection had “he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” that said how “Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,” (Luke 24:45-46).  It should be no wonder that the disciples could not fully grasp what Jesus is talking about and that they were greatly distressed (v. 23). 

There is a wildness to our Lord that cannot be contained, fully understood tamed or packaged.    Man cannot grasp the full plan of infinite God.   In our world today, airplanes full of people crash into buildings or just disappear.   Innocents suffer and die as one nation invades another nation while good nations do nothing.   I have friends who have had parents, spouses, even children, die recently.

But the final chapter has not been written. “We shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).  Death will be swallowed up and “he will wipe away every tear from (our) eyes,” (Revelation 21:4). For now, may we trust and obey, knowing that the path to the empty tomb must first go through Jerusalem, into the hands of evil men, onto the cross and sealed into the grave.   

Still, he walks ahead; he is our forerunner to Jerusalem where he will “destroy the one who has the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14).   Just as he is about to be delivered into the hands of men, he will “deliver all those who through the fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery,” (Hebrews 2:15).