31 And having taken the twelve aside, he said unto them, 'Lo, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things shall be completed—that have been written through the prophets—to the Son of Man, 32 for he shall be delivered up to the nations, and shall be mocked, and insulted, and spit upon, 33 and having scourged they shall put him to death, and on the third day he shall rise again.' 34 And they none of these things understood, and this saying was hid from them, and they were not knowing the things said.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Luke 18:31-34
Commentary on Luke 18:31-34
(Read Luke 18:31-34)
The Spirit of Christ, in the Old Testament prophets, testified beforehand his sufferings, and the glory that should follow, 1 Peter 1:11. The disciples' prejudices were so strong, that they would not understand these things literally. They were so intent upon the prophecies which spake of Christ's glory, that they overlooked those which spake of his sufferings. People run into mistakes, because they read their Bibles by halves, and are only for the smooth things. We are as backward to learn the proper lessons from the sufferings, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, as the disciples were to what he told them as to those events; and for the same reason; self-love, and a desire of worldly objects, close our understandings.