Follow Jesus Christ

The Sanhedrin issued an order for the arrest and execution of Jesus several months before the final Passover of his ministry. The apostles, under Jesus’ guidance, spent the remaining time keeping a low profile, not advertising their whereabouts. One day Jesus gathered his followers and told them plainly and openly: “The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And after three days from the time they kill him, he will rise.”

What was Jesus trying to accomplish with these words? He was trying to get the apostles to accept the inevitable and come to terms with it. By that time Peter and some others had secretly taken up swords; Jesus did not want them to rely on the power of weapons. He was trying both to prepare his friends psychologically and to give them hope. He spoke directly and literally foretold what was to happen.

As psychology teaches, people intuitively filter out information that is unpleasant, threatens their inner balance, or shatters their familiar picture of the world. This phenomenon is called “selective perception”: a person hears only what confirms their expectations. To avoid anxiety and cognitive dissonance, the mind reshapes what it hears into a more convenient interpretation. When reality seems unbearable, the psyche resorts to denial — one of the basic defense mechanisms. People may hear the truth but refuse to believe it, because belief in the opposite preserves a sense of control and hope. Like a patient whom a doctor bluntly tells the diagnosis and who replies, “I’ll be fine; now let me explain,” Jesus’ disciples heard the truth but could not accept it.

The Gospels say that “the apostles did not understand these words, and were afraid to ask him.” They could not force themselves to take his words literally; they could not grasp that the Teacher meant exactly what he said. They were so blinded by their stubborn faith in a political kingdom on earth centered in Jerusalem that they simply could not — would not — allow themselves to accept the literal meaning of Jesus’ words. They long pondered what the Teacher might have meant. This is a common trait of all people — we believe what we want to believe. We deny or distort the truth when it is frightening, incomprehensible, or unpleasant.

Only after Jesus’ death did the bewildered apostles finally understand that the Teacher had spoken to them plainly and openly, foreseeing his crucifixion. Many years later, preaching the Gospel to people in distant lands, they firmly learned and accepted the truth that the Kingdom of God will not come to earth in a visible way — by soldiers’ bayonets or as the result of an uprising. The Kingdom of God can be found only within oneself.