Mark 9:30-37
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
Why were they afraid to ask? The only time I’m really afraid to ask something is when I don’t want to know the answer. This is the case of the disciples here. Like Peter who wanted to affirm that Jesus was the Messiah but couldn’t cope with Jesus’ version of that which starts with betrayal, rejection and leads to death. And rising from death? What was that all about? Where did that come from? That was way outside the scope of their expectations. That was frightening. Ghosts were dangerous and scary. Why would Jesus want to talk about that?
The disciples were only able to understand all this on the far side of Easter Sunday. This was something that they couldn’t go around. Only through.