While they were all amazed at his every deed, he said to his disciples, 44 “Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” 45 But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
The people are amazed at what Jesus has just done. He has freed a boy from an unclean spirit, healed him, and returned him to his father (Luke 9:37–43a). Yet precisely while everyone is marveling at His power, Jesus turns to His disciples and speaks about what lies ahead: “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.”
Jesus emphasizes that the Son of Man will be “handed over to men.” In the Greek, the same word for “human being” lies behind both “Son of Man” and “men,” creating a striking contrast: the Son of Man, who receives everlasting authority from God (Daniel 7:13–14), will be handed over into human hands. Luke’s wording also broadens the significance beyond the particular people involved in Jesus’ arrest and death. The Passion concerns humanity, because Christ gives Himself for humanity (1 Timothy 2:5–6).
Jesus wants them to listen carefully. His words, “Pay attention to what I am telling you,” can be expressed more literally as “put these words into your ears.” Earlier, at the Transfiguration, the Father had commanded the disciples concerning Jesus, “Listen to him” (Luke 9:35). Now Jesus tells them to listen closely to something they find much harder to accept: His mission will lead not only to mighty works that inspire amazement, but also to suffering.
This is the second time in Luke that Jesus foretells His Passion. Earlier He had said that the Son of Man “must suffer greatly and be rejected … and be killed and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22). Here the prediction is shorter and concentrates on His being “handed over.” Jesus is preparing the disciples to understand that the suffering soon to come belongs to His saving mission.
The language of being “handed over” also recalls the suffering servant described by Isaiah. Isaiah speaks of the servant who gives himself for sinners and is “counted among the wicked” (Isaiah 53:12). Jesus later applies that very passage to Himself: “For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, namely, ‘He was counted among the wicked’” (Luke 22:37). His Passion belongs to the saving plan that Scripture had already prepared God’s people to recognize.
The disciples, however, do not yet understand. Luke says that the meaning “was hidden from them so that they should not understand it,” and they are afraid to ask Jesus about it. The wording does not explicitly say who hid the meaning, but Luke presents their lack of understanding as part of God’s providential plan as well as a result of their present weakness. They hear Jesus’ words, but they cannot yet grasp how suffering belongs to the mission of the long-awaited Messiah whom Peter has just confessed Jesus to be (Luke 9:20; see also Luke 18:31–34). Full understanding will come only after the Passion and Resurrection. Then the risen Jesus will explain that it was “necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory” (Luke 24:26), and He will “open their minds to understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45). What is hidden from them now will be made clear in the light of the Cross and Resurrection.
The contrast in this short Gospel is important. The crowd sees Jesus’ power and is amazed. Jesus directs His disciples beyond that amazement toward the Cross. His mighty works reveal God’s mercy, but that mercy will reach its fullest expression when He gives Himself for us. The disciples cannot yet see how suffering can belong to the mission of the Messiah. They will understand only when the Cross is seen in the light of the Resurrection.
Lord Jesus, help us to listen carefully to Your word, especially when we do not yet understand what You are teaching us. Strengthen our faith so that we may follow You through the Cross to the life of the Resurrection. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011. Luke 9:43b–45 and notes.
- Casciaro, Jose Maria, gen. ed. The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008. 289.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990. 700, para. 117.
- Gadenz, Pablo T. The Gospel of Luke. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018. 189–190.
- Aguilar Chiu, Jose Enrique, et al., eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018. 1064.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid, OP, and Donald Senior, CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. 3rd fully rev. ed. London: T&T Clark, 2022. 1323.
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