Jesus came healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, feeding thousands of people in one sitting and generally manifesting the power of God. I can imagine the excitement that was building up in his followers as they witnessed this unbelievable power. Their minds couldn’t help but be filled with excitement at the thought of the destruction of the Roman Empire and the setting up of the peaceable kingdom of God.
No wonder scripture tells us sorrow filled the hearts of the disciples when they heard Jesus say, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.” They were so overwrought with his first words that they missed entirely the rest of his message, “and the third day he will be raised up” (Mathew 17:22-23).
When we face sorrow we also tend to forget that God will also raise us up out of our troubles. Paul wrote, “If the Spirit of him who raise Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then that same spirit who raised Christ from the dead is able to give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8;11). This is not only talking about physical life after death, but spiritual life now.
