The Son of man must suffer many things

In the Gospel of Luke there has been a gradual growth up to this point in the self-revelation of our Lord as the Messiah of God. Now He is going to add another part to His self-revelation, a part astoundingly unexpected; the Son of man is to suffer.

But firstly, He draws out of the disciples a confession of faith. He asks them the simple question, ‘Who do men say that I am?’, not because He did not know what men were saying, but so that He could make the question even more personal to the disciples. There had, no doubt, been endless debate in the nation as to who this preacher and healer really was. Even Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, had come to talk about this with our Lord, and Herod, a man with a conscience over the execution of John the Baptist, hazarded the opinion that Jesus of Nazareth was John come back from the dead. But then our Lord brought it home to His disciples: ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Faith in God has to be a personal thing in the end. ‘What must I do to be saved?’ is far more personal than ‘What must man do to be saved?’

Peter, the great spokesman for the disciples, says, ‘The Christ of God’. This clear profession of faith that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, the Son of God, showed how much deeper was the conviction in the heart of those Twelve who had been with him, Judas apart, than in the hearts of many others. The high point of confession has been reached, and not through the auspices of flesh and blood either. Messiah, the disciples believed, had arrived in His glory and power.

Yes, He has, said our Lord. But the pathway to that glory and that kingdom lies through suffering. For the first time He specifically warns of the horror that lies ahead of Him. From now on, He will revert to this subject time and time again, but the shock news must be broken now, whether the disciples can accept it or not. We note that He said the Son of man must suffer. There was a divine necessity about it all. In fulfilment of the prophecies of old, the great Servant of God must be a suffering Servant. The One who said, when He was twelve, ‘I must be about my Father’s business’, knows that scripture must be fulfilled. And He will not fail to do just that.