Matthew 20:17-19, Jesus Foretells his Death for a Third Time

17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Comments

Jesus told his disciples about the formal rejection of the Messiah by Israel when they arrived in Jerusalem. His death was not going to be a glorious martyrdom but an ugly, sordid butchery at the hands of the Roman authorities. An evil coalition of Jews and Gentiles would execute the “Savior of the World.”

Prayer

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(BCP, p. 220)