Have you ever wondered why Jesus’ enemies seemed to understand His teachings better than His own followers? It’s a fascinating paradox in the Gospel accounts – those who hated Jesus remembered and understood His prediction about rising on the third day, while those who loved Him remained confused and doubtful.
This disconnect between the Pharisees’ cunning awareness and the disciples’ bewilderment reveals something profound about how expectations and biases shape our ability to receive truth. The disciples, despite walking with Jesus daily, couldn’t grasp what His enemies clearly recognized – and this tension continues to offer valuable insights for our own spiritual journeys today.
Biblical Insight
When we examine the Gospel accounts, we find this puzzling contrast clearly displayed. After Jesus’ crucifixion, Matthew 27:62-66 records the chief priests and Pharisees approaching Pilate: “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while He was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples go and steal Him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” These religious leaders, who had opposed Jesus throughout His ministry, clearly understood and remembered His prediction about resurrection.
In stark contrast, Luke tells us about the disciples’ reaction in Luke 24:9-11: “And returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest… but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” Even after the women reported the empty tomb and the angels’ message, the disciples remained skeptical. More revealing is Luke 18:31-34, where Jesus explicitly told His disciples: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished… and on the third day He will rise.” Yet Luke states plainly: “But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.”
The cultural and historical context helps explain this paradox. The Pharisees and religious leaders were experts in Scripture and messianic prophecies, constantly watching Jesus for any claim that could be used against Him. Their understanding was driven by hostile vigilance – they remembered His words not from faith but from fear and suspicion. They were looking for evidence to condemn Him.
Meanwhile, the disciples had formed their own expectations about the Messiah as a political liberator who would restore Israel’s kingdom. John 20:9 explicitly states that “they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead.” Their preconceptions created a cognitive barrier that prevented them from grasping the reality of a suffering, dying, and rising Messiah, even when Jesus spoke about it plainly.
Practical Wisdom
This biblical account speaks directly to how our own expectations and biases can blind us to God’s truth. We often hear what we want to hear and filter out what doesn’t fit our preconceived ideas about how God should work in our lives. The disciples couldn’t imagine a Messiah who would die shamefully, so they unconsciously filtered out Jesus’ clear warnings about His death and promises about His resurrection. Their love for Jesus, ironically, made them resistant to accepting the path of suffering He described.
In our own walks with Yeshua, we must be willing to let the Holy Spirit challenge our comfortable assumptions. Just like the disciples, we can be blinded by our expectations of how God should act or what following Him should look like. True discipleship requires a posture of humility that says, “Lord, I might be missing something important because of my biases, or strongholds as Scripture calls it.” When we approach Scripture with this humility, the Holy Spirit can reveal truths we previously couldn’t see – not because they weren’t there, but because we weren’t ready to receive them.
This story also reminds us that sometimes our spiritual enemies understand certain truths better than we do – not because they love those truths, but because they fear them. The Pharisees recognized the power of Jesus’ resurrection claim and took it seriously enough to post guards, while the disciples dismissed the women’s testimony as “idle tales.” Today, let’s be people who take God’s Word seriously, even when it challenges our expectations or comfort zones. The Holy Spirit dwells within us precisely to guide us into all truth, especially the uncomfortable truths we might otherwise miss.
Clearing Up Misunderstandings
A common misconception is that the disciples were simply slow-witted or spiritually insensitive. This view misses the complex psychological and spiritual dynamics at work. Scripture actually tells us in Luke 9:45 that “it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it,” suggesting a divine purpose in their temporary blindness. Their inability to understand wasn’t merely intellectual failure but part of God’s larger redemptive plan. Had they and all the crowds of people who loved Jesus fully understood His predictions, they might have tried to prevent His crucifixion, potentially interfering with God’s redemptive purpose.
Another misunderstanding is the assumption that the Pharisees truly “believed” in Jesus’ resurrection claims. Their actions reveal not faith but fear. They understood His claims intellectually but rejected them spiritually. Their response was to secure the tomb with guards – a defensive reaction driven by anxiety that Jesus’ followers might fabricate evidence of resurrection, not genuine concern that He might actually rise. Their “understanding” was superficial and self-serving, focused on protecting their religious power rather than embracing divine truth. This reveals an important distinction between intellectual comprehension and spiritual reception of truth.
It’s also worth noting that after the resurrection, the disciples’ blindness was completely removed. Their slow understanding wasn’t permanent but transitional. Once they encountered the risen Messiah, their minds were opened to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45), and they became powerful witnesses to the very truth they had previously missed. This transformation reminds us that spiritual understanding often comes through process rather than instant illumination, and God’s timing in revealing truth is perfect for His purposes.
Conclusion
The contrast between the Pharisees’ cunning awareness and the disciples’ blind confusion ultimately points to God’s sovereign working through human limitations. What appeared to be a failure – the disciples’ inability to understand Jesus’ plainest teaching – became the backdrop for a greater demonstration of God’s power when their eyes were finally opened. This encourages us today to be patient with our own spiritual growth and understanding, trusting that even our confusion can be used by God in His perfect timing.
As we walk with Jesus, let’s maintain both a humble recognition of our blind spots and a confident trust in the Holy Spirit’s guidance. The same disciples who once failed to understand Jesus’ resurrection promises later gave their lives proclaiming this truth throughout the world. Their journey from confusion to clarity, from doubt to dedication, offers us hope that our own understanding will continue to deepen as we follow the risen Christ with open hearts and minds.
Did You Know?
The Greek word used in Luke 18:34 to describe how the disciples “understood none of these things” is “ἐγίνωσκον” (eginōskon), indicating not just intellectual confusion but a deep inability to perceive or recognize. The same root word is used elsewhere to describe intimate, experiential knowledge. This suggests the disciples’ problem wasn’t merely intellectual but existential – they couldn’t yet integrate Jesus’ suffering and resurrection into their understanding of who He was and what His mission entailed. Their blindness was comprehensive, affecting their entire framework for understanding the Messiah’s purpose.
