<p>8:31 <i>And he began to teach them that-</i> The sense of&nbsp;<i>hoti</i>&nbsp;in the context is definitely causative. The idea is that He showed them&nbsp;<i>why</i>&nbsp;these things must happen. He didn't just foretell the events of the passion, but explained why they must be.</p><p><i>The Son of Man must suffer many things- </i>The phrase is used elsewhere of the sick woman who had &quot;suffered many things&quot; at the hands of &quot;many physicians&quot; (Mk. 5:26), and yet is used elsewhere about the Lord's 'many' sufferings at the hands of the Jewish leaders (also in Mk. 9:12). Surely the Lord perceived in her someone who was sharing something of His final sufferings. All our sufferings are likewise part of His crucifixion sufferings, and if we suffer with Him, we shall also therefore experience His resurrection. That woman was therefore set up as an example of us all.</p><p><i>And be rejected- </i>The same word is used about the stone of Christ being &quot;rejected&quot; by themselves, the builders (Mt. 21:42). The word carries the sense of legally condemning. They rejected the sinless Son of God as a condemned sinner and demanded His death. If nothing else we learn some basic psychology- that when a person touches the conscience of less spiritual people, they are likely to intensely slander the person and effectively demand their death, which in our day may be the social death of rejection.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><i>By the elders- Presbuteros</i>&nbsp;is specifically used of the Sanhedrin members. The Lord's predictions here are highly specific and detailed.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><i>And the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again</i>- Literally, 'High Priests'. There was only supposed to be one High Priest, but the position was so lucrative and argued over that there were a group called the 'High Priests'- so far had Judaism fallen away from basic Biblical teachings, despite their zeal to keep the details.</p><p>Mark, who as we have suggested was effectively Peter writing, records three instances of where the Lord&rsquo;s prediction of the cross was met by the disciples&rsquo; misunderstanding, and His subsequent efforts to teach them the real meaning of discipleship, and the paradoxes which this involves:</p><table border=0 cellspacing=3 cellpadding=0 width=100%>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td>                        </td>            <td>            <p>Mark 8</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>Mark 9</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>Mark 10</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td>            <p>Geographical description</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>Mk. 8:27</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>Mk. 9:30</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>10:32</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td>            <p>Note that the incident took place whilst they   were on the road walking</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>8:27</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>9:31</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>10:33,34</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td>            <p>Misunderstanding by the disciples</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>8:32,33</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>9:32</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>10:35-41</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td>            <p>Jesus calls the disciples to Him, implying they   were no longer following behind Him</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>8:34</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>9:35</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>10:42</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td>            <p>Teaching about true cross-carrying discipleship</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>8:34-9:1</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>9:33-37</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>10:42-45</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td>            <p>Paradox</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>Save life / lose life</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>First / last</p>            </td>            <td>            <p>Great / least</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table><p>The point is, that following Jesus in the way involves picking up and carrying His cross. But this repeatedly wasn&rsquo;t understood by the disciples, and they seem to have stopped walking behind Him as they should&rsquo;ve done. Be aware that Mark is a transcript of Peter&rsquo;s preaching of the Gospel message; He&rsquo;s surely pointing out how terribly slow he had been himself to pick up the fact that walking behind Jesus is a call to carry a cross. And of course a glance back at our own discipleship and walk behind Jesus indicates just the same with us; and perhaps we should admit that more freely in our preaching, in order to like Peter make a stronger appeal for men to follow Jesus with no misunderstanding of what this involves.</p><p>Qualms of conscience about &lsquo;wasting time&rsquo; can so often be part of a guilty fear of not having &lsquo;done&rsquo; enough. The Lord Jesus was not beset by guilt, and a sensitive reading of the Gospels reflects the way that this ultimately zealous servant of the Lord never appeared to be in hurry. He had ample time to speak to the woman He met at the well (Jn. 4:1-26), to take time out with the disciples (Mk. 8:27), He had the leisure time to admire wild flowers (Mt. 6:28), comment upon a sunset (Mt. 16:2), to go through the lengthy process of washing the feet of His men (Jn. 13:5) and to be able to answer their naive questions without the slightest hint of impatience (Jn. 14:5-10)&hellip; and of course to walk some distance to find a place conducive to prayer (Lk. 5:16).</p>