“Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Matthew 16:21)
Jesus Christ came to earth to teach people about God and about His coming Kingdom. His message was accompanied by supernatural signs and miracles. It took some time for His followers to fully understand who He was, but eventually, they made their confession:“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)
They were 100% right! Nonetheless, it took them a lot more time to realize that Jesus’ mission as “the Christ” involved suffering and even death. Jesus repeatedly told them this, to prepare them for all that was going to happen and to correct their misconceptions.
His mission was not only to teach people about God’s Kingdom and to become their spiritual leader, but also to make reconciliation possible between God and a sinful world. In order to do so, Jesus would take upon Himself the sin of humanity and bear God’s wrath in their place. To make things worse, people would not accept His self-sacrifice with gratitude, but reject and mock Him. They would hand Him over to the Roman authorities to have Him killed. All this was part of God’s plan from the beginning. Jesus knew how much He would suffer. And yet, He was willing to do so because He loves the world so much!