Jesus Christ
The Passion
The Kingdom of Heaven: The Disciples Doubt & Do Not Understand
by Rhawn Joseph, Ph.D.
It was the intention of Jesus to announce himself to the world, only when the time was ripe. If it were revealed to soon that he was the Messiah and King of the Jews, Herod and the Romans would immediately act and would Crucify him before he could fulfill the prophecies.
"Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again" -Matthew 17.
His disciples, however, still did not understand. When Jesus spoke of dying, and then rising again, many thought he was referring to a cult-like ritual and a symbolic death involving perhaps, a drug-induced, coma-like sleep: As Jesus later said, regarding the death of his beloved disciple, Lazarus, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." When his disciples heard that, "Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him." -John 11.
His disciples did not truly understand his mission, and hence, were plagued with "doubt" "faithlessness" and "unbelief": "And when Peter was come down out of the ship... he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" -Matthew 14.
"There came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son... I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." -Matthew 17.
Still, the doubted and did not understand.
Likewise, when Jesus said, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" his disciples did not understand, and believed instead that once Jesus became King, Israel would become heaven on Earth. It was for this reason that his disciples tried to talk him out of going back to Jerusalem, "where the Jews sought to stone thee." They feared Jesus would be arrested and killed, and would never become king.
"From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." -Matthew 16.
Jesus, his disciples believed, had promised them power, glory, and a kingdom on Earth. "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory...Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."
Had not Jesus told them, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour" (John 12)?
The disciples of Jesus did not truly comprehend the Divine Plan, his concept of the Kingdom of Heaven, that he welcomed his eventual arrest and Crucifixion, and that one of them would betray him. The Kingdom of Heaven, his disciples believed, was to be a heavenly Kingdom on Earth, and that once Jesus was crowned king, each would receive power and be honored with an earthly reward.
"Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? -Matthew 19.
Indeed, when Jesus promised again that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, they began to squabble and argue among themselves as to who would have the highest honors and receive the greatest rewards.
" And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.
And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" "We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father" -Matthew 20, -Mark 10.
And still, they did not comprehend his meaning, and in fact tried to dissuade him from taking any action that might lead to his being harmed or the collapse of his plans to establish a kingdom. And it was for this reason that he urged them not to fight, protest, or do anything that might disrupt the Devine plan.
As Jesus, on the day of his Crucifixion explained to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews." -John 18
"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" -Matthew 16.
It was in fact, only when one of his disciples, Judas, finally began to realize that his only reward might be in heaven, that he chose to betray Jesus, to sell him out for an earthly reward, exactly as Jesus said he would: "For Jesus knew from the beginning who should betray him." -John 6.
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