Mark 9:30-32

Further Prediction of the Passion. Jesus now journeys through Galilee, avoiding public attention. Mk. explains the desire for privacy as due to the purpose of Jesus to devote Himself to the disciples. Some scholars suggest that the necessity of avoiding a collision with Herod may have been the real motive. But apart from the question of Herod's hostility, this section of the gospel represents Jesus as breaking off the public ministry to train the Twelve. Mk. is probably right both as to the main motive of seeking privacy and as to the central theme of the teaching given to the disciples. In this second summary prediction of the end, the verb paradidonai is used for the first time. The delivering up of the Son of Man may refer not simply or chiefly to the act of betrayal but to the thought of the Father delivering up His Son for us all (cf. Abbott, Paradosis). The failure of the disciples to understand is not due to any obscurity in the words used, but to the unexpected character of their contents, and to the suggestion that this is God's plan for His beloved Son.