No surprises

Scott was surprised by an unexpected audit. Most of us don’t like to be surprised. Every boss hates surprises. The “no surprises” rule is a golden rule of workplace communication. It means alerting your manager of bad news before they hear about it from someone else.
This protects them from unexpected embarrassments.

Did you know that Jesus told His disciples at least three times about His death and resurrection? But they were still surprised when it happened!

The first time

After Peter said that Jesus was the Messiah, Matthew wrote, ^“From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Mt. 16:21NIV).

The second time

After the transfiguration and Jesus healed a demon-possessed boy, Matthew wrote,
“When they came together in Galilee, He said to them, ‘The Son of Man [Jesus] is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and on the third day He will be raised to life’” (Mt. 17:22-23).

The third time

When Jesus was going to Jerusalem with His disciples before His crucifixion, He said, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles [the Romans] to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life!” (Mt. 20:18-19).

These three messages to the disciples are mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke, making at least nine times in the Bible. But they weren’t remembered on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. They didn’t think that Jesus would die and His resurrection was unexpected.

Why didn’t they remember?

Even through Jesus had told them at least three times, they didn’t remember. The reasons for this could include,
– They didn’t understand what kind of a Messiah Jesus was. They were expecting someone who would overthrow the Roman occupiers, restore the political kingdom of Israel, and give them political glory. For example, just before Jesus ascended to Heaven they asked, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
– There was no concept of a Messiah raising from the dead, or a resurrection before the end times.
– They may have thought that Jesus was speaking symbolically or in metaphors or parables, although there is no evidence of this.
– The main reason was that God kept it hidden until after the resurrection when the Holy Spirit helped them to remember. “Its meaning was hidden from them” (Lk. 9:45; 18:34). Their grief and confusion at the crucifixion showed that the resurrection wasn’t staged or expected.

The sequence of events was predictions, misunderstanding, fulfilment, and understanding. Jesus told the disciples about His death and the events that followed “so that when it does take place you may believe” (Jn. 14:29). When they understood, and believed, they helped to establish the early church.

The repetition of the predictions shows that Christ’s death and resurrection was not an accident, but part of God’s saving plan. Jesus intentionally came to earth to die for our sins. It was the ultimate purpose of His ministry.

They remembered in hindsight

After the resurrection of Jesus, the angels told the women, Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ Then they remembered His words. (Lk. 24:6-8).

It only made sense to them after they experienced Christ’s death and resurrection. They remembered in hindsight and wrote about it in the gospels.

We can also look backwards in history. But we have more than them, they didn’t have the New Testament.

Prayer

Father God, we thank you that Jesus was obedient to your plan that He must go to Jerusalem to suffer and must be killed and on the third day must be raised to life.

We thank you that this was recorded in the Bible so that we can understand it and believe it and share the good news.

Please help us to follow your revelation in the Bible and not unbiblical expectations.

We thank you for His sacrificial death that enabled our sin to be forgiven and us to be reconciled with God. And we thank you for His resurrection back to life which was a great victory over death, sin and Satan. Amen.

Written, June 2026