9. JESUS THE SECOND TIME HIS DEATH AND Mark 9:30-32 (Matthew 17:22-23; Luke 9:43-45) 30 And they went forth from thence,--From the vicinity of Cesarea Philippi (Mark 8:27; Matthew 16:13), at the base of Mount Hermon, where Jesus had healed the "only son" of a father just after the descent of Jesus from the transfiguration. and passed through Galilee;--They were returning from Cesarea Philippi (Mark 8:27), whither they had gone by passing east of the upper garden through the district called Iturea. That they returned "through Galilee" shows that they came down on the west of the Jordan. They were on their way back to Capernaum. (Verse 33.) They traveled in a quiet and private manner. and he would not that any man should know it.--This is the last mention made of the privacy which Jesus had maintained ever since his journey to the vicinity of Tyre. (Compare Mark 7:24; Mark 7:33; Mark 7:36; Mark 8:26; Mark 9:25.) It was this privacy which occasioned the taunting remark of his unbelieving kindred, "Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly." (John 7:3-4.) 31 For he taught his disciples,--This seems to be the purpose of the private journey. He had before predicted his suffering and death (Mark 8:31) to his disciples. He wished to further instruct them, hence did not want to be interfered with by the multitude. and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered up into the hands of men,--Here Jesus uses the present tense, probably because the event was so vividly present to his mind. Some think it refers to his betrayal by Judas, a future fact being spoken of as present, as indeed it was present in the mind of Jesus. It would be better to regard this as referring to the fact that Jesus had already been given up by his Father to men, in order that he might suffer and die for the sins of the world. This was the Father's purpose in giving him to the world. (Acts 2:23.) The divine plan of his sufferings and death was the topic of discourse on the mount (Luke 9:31); and now it is the topic of his disciples. and they shall kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he shall rise again.--Through his divine power he will rise from the dead. (John 10:18.) He would be delivered up in a treacherous manner. This was done by Judas Iscariot, the traitor. (Matthew 26:14-16; Matthew 26:47-50.) 32 But they understood not the saying,--They could not understand the prediction, probably because they did not want to receive the words in their obvious import. It is often true in our day that a plain passage of scripture is obscure to people simply because they are unwilling to accept the truth it reveals. They were slow to learn the full truth. They could not understand how he could be the Messiah, and yet be put to death in this manner. The reason was they had the wrong conception of the kingdom of God, and his death did not correspond with it. They did not understand it fully until after the resurrection. and were afraid to ask him.--Probably they were afraid to ask what he meant for fear he would rebuke them as he had rebuked Peter when the subject was first mentioned. (Mark 8:33.)