Summary
Hidden
In the holy days just before Holy Week, Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them plainly what was about to happen: "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished" Luke 18:31. He would be handed over to the Gentiles, mocked, flogged, and killed, and on the third day rise again. This is the fourth such passion prediction in Luke's Gospel, and Jesus deliberately roots it in the prophets—Isaiah 53 stands close at hand—showing that the cross is no accident but the long-promised work of the Messiah.
The disciples' response is striking: "But they understood nothing about all these things. In fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said" Luke 18:34. The threefold emphasis—understood nothing, hidden, did not grasp—is no accident. A crucified Messiah was the opposite of what first-century Jews expected. They looked for a coronation, not a crucifixion; for a king who would kill Israel's enemies, not one who would be killed. Paul later names this scandal directly: "We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles" 1 Corinthians 1:23.
Read closely, the verb "was hidden" is what grammarians call a theological passive: the disciples did not merely fail to understand—they were kept from understanding, and the One keeping them was God himself. Why would God conceal this from his own disciples? Peter's outburst supplies the answer. When Jesus first foretold his death, Peter took him aside to rebuke him: "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to you." Jesus answered, "Get behind me, Satan!" Matthew 16:21-23. Had the Twelve fully grasped what was coming, they would have done everything in their power to prevent it. Their eyes were opened only after the cross and resurrection, when understanding could no longer interfere with the plan but only proclaim it.
Behind the hiding stands a determined God. Before the foundation of the world, before he ever said "let there be," the plan of salvation was already in place Ephesians 1:4. Knowing the fall, God set his purpose to redeem in the blood of his Son, and Jesus would let nothing thwart it—not the misunderstanding of his friends, not the rebuke of Peter, not the terror of Gethsemane. The spotless Lamb went willingly to bear the sin of the world, to absorb the wrath of God in our place, and to rise on the third day as proof that the sacrifice was accepted. This is the heart of Hidden: what was concealed from the disciples for a season was concealed precisely so that the determined love of God could run its course to the cross.
There is a personal turn here as well. By nature, the things of God are hidden from us too—not because God withholds them, but because sin has left us blind, unwilling, and without faith of our own 1 Corinthians 2:14. We do not naturally understand Jesus; we do not even want to. Yet the same determined God who set his face toward Jerusalem now sets his face toward us. He claims us in the waters of Baptism, washes us in the promises of the cross and empty tomb, and feeds us with the body and blood of his Son. Through Word and Sacrament he births, sustains, and grows the faith that could never arise from us on our own.
The hidden is revealed. Understanding is given. Faith is born. Not because we reached up and grasped it, but because a determined God reached down and would not be turned aside.
Video citations
- "Hidden" 3-12-23 — Do you open your Bibles, please, with me, to the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Luke for our study this morning. Luke the 18th chapter, if you're using a Pew edition of Holy Scripture, you're going…