Matthew 20:18

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. — The words repeat in substance what had been previously stated after the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:22), but with greater definiteness. Jerusalem is to be the scene of His suffering, and their present journey is to end in it, and “the chief priests and scribes” are to be the chief actors in it, and “the Gentiles” are to be their instruments in it. The mocking, the spitting (Mark 10:34), the scourging, the crucifixion, all these are new elements in the prediction, as if what had before been presented in dim outline to the disciples was now brought vividly, in every stage of its progress, before His mind and theirs.