Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo much suffering, and that he must be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law, and be put to death, and rise again after three days.
original fear
touches deep
each lifeterror needs facing
whether moving outward
or speeding towardthere is a sharp knife
hiding beneath suffering
ready for mean harmfirst we receive
generations of feuding
mutual rejectionuntil even resurrection
is reverse terrorism
continuing fear’s wayour work is human-size
breathing deep
listening deeper– – – — – –
[thanks to Thick Nhat Hanh and Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting through the Storm]
Even before calling disciples and engaging them in larger life, Jesus engaged the wilderness after being tempted to let Belovedness go to his head. His first proclamation had to do with repenting and trusting. Both of these are proto-teachings on encountering real life. In this world larger life requires the leaving of smaller living and that smallness is evident in its desire to cling on to a next generation, to not let go in a season of harvest.
Here is the δεῖ, the “necessity”, the “need”, the “must” that grows out of what Paul will later quote from a song of Jesus’ followers:
While created beloved,
we do not claim a privilege
to exploit others
but a partnership with all.
Sabin-1140, in her discussion of “Son of Man” equaling “Son of Adam” suggests substituting “human beings” for “Son of Man”. This leads her to later note, “…in a real sense Jesus is indicating that his pattern of suffering and death and rising again, is—or could be— paradigmatic for every human being.” Thankfully, Sabin-1143 goes on to remove the conditional phrase and come to, “…death and resurrection is special to the beloved son and at the same time normative.”
Given the difficulty we have in our own journey to wilderness belovedness, this same teaching returns in 9:31 and 10:32-34.