Matthew 16:21-26
In Matthew 16:21, the Savior begins to prepare and teach his disciples about the atonement and that He is going to have to voluntarily lay down his life for all mankind so that he can be resurrected on the third day. He tells them that He will suffer many things because of the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed. The disciples do not understand what he is telling them. But He tells them these things, so that after His death and resurrection, they will look back and see that He told them that they will happen and they will then understand.
In verses 22-23 there is an interchange between the Savior of the World and Peter. Peter begins to rebuke the Savior and says that what the Savior said is not going to happen. The Savior rebukes Peter in the strongest terms, “get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me.” The Savior continues that Peter is looking at His statements as a man and not as one that savors the things of God. Peter did not understand what the Lord was saying, because he did not understand the atonement.
In verse 24, the Savior gives powerful doctrine about being one of his followers. First, we need to deny ourselves, deny ourselves of all ungodliness. We need to take up his cross, or in other words to take His name upon us and be faithful in our trials and temptations. We also need to follow Him, to follow His example and to do the things that He would do. This is much easier said than done. After all, much more is said than done.
In verses 25-26, He teaches more powerful doctrine. In the Lord's kingdom to gain eternal life we must lose our live in the service of others. In other words, we have to give to get. The Savior continues that it does not profit someone to gain the whole world and its riches but lose their soul. He then asks a rhetorical question: What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? There is absolutely nothing in this world that is worth the loss of our opportunity to return and live with our Heavenly Father.
Matthew 17:22-23
In Matthew 17:22-23, the Savior reiterates that He, The Son of Man, or Son of the Man of Holiness, would be betrayed into the hands of men. He is prophesying that Judas will betray Him and that He will be delivered into the hands of the Jewish and Roman leaders. He foretells of His death and even more important that He will be resurrected on the third day. The Apostles are starting to get the picture that the Savior will be leaving them. They were exceedingly sorry. In reality, the Savior's death and resurrection are part of the greatest event of this world. It is because of His death and resurrection that the Atonement would be completed for everyone of us and that we overcame physical death and have the opportunity to overcome spiritual death, or being shut out from the presence of God.
Matthew 20:17-28
In verses 17-19, He reiterates again what He told His Apostles in Chapter 17—He is going to Jerusalem; He will be betrayed and given to the chief priests and scribes; He will be condemned to death; He will be mocked, scourged, and crucified by the Romans; and that He would rise again. His message was consistent and accurate.
Verses 20-23 record an interchange between the mother of James and John and the Savior. The Savior knew what they wanted, and when asked she stated that she wanted to sons to sit on the right and left hands of God. Jesus answered a question with a question, “Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said that they could. In reality, they could not, because only a person that had an immortal father and a mortal mother, could perform the atonement. Then the Savior prophecies that they will drink of the the cup, the persecution, and be baptized. But to sit on the right and left hand of the Savior was not His to give, but it was His Father that would give those places.
In verse 24, the other ten apostles were very upset with James and John, but the Savior called all the Apostles to Him and taught a very powerful lesson. The world teaches that the princes and those in great authority rule the world, but it is not to be so with you, the twelve Apostles. He who will be great among you shall be one that ministers and blesses others through the Priesthood. If you want to be the chief, you must be the servant, the servant of Heavenly Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and His children. Even He adds, I, the Son of Man, came not be be ministered to but to minister and to most importantly to give My life as a ransom for many. He ransomed His life so all could be resurrected, and for many who would repent and obtain eternal life.
Mark 8:31-33
In Mark 8:31-33 the commentary of Matthew 16:22-23 is very similar. The commentary for Mark 8:34-37 is the same as Matthew 16:24-26. In Mark 8:38, the Savior reveals that those who are ashamed of Him and His words in this adulterous and sinful generation, He shall be ashamed of them, when he comes again in His Second Coming. He will come in the glory of His Father and with the Holy Angels. This is very sobering. How often are we ashamed of the Savior or of His word. This hits too close to home.
Mark 9:3-32
In these verses, The Savior quietly passes through Galilee and again tells his disciples that He will be delivered into the hands of the Jews and they shall kill Him. He also testifies that He shall rise on the third day. The disciples did not understand, but they were afraid to ask. He would instruct them again. After His resurrection, they would understand.
Mark 10:32-45
In Mark 10:32-34, the Savior again tells His disciples what is going to happen. I often wonder when the disciples began to understand what was going to take place. We will never know, but it is clear that they did not understand much before the events happened. As the events happened, I am sure that the disciples remembered the words of the Savior. After the Savior's death and resurrection and the receipt of the Holy Ghost, then they really understood.
In Mark 10:35-41, the commentary of Matthew 20:20-24 applies. In Mark 10:42-45, the Savior states that the Roman rulers exercise lordship and authority over the Jews. Being the ruler in the Lord's church means that those who want to be great among the disciples shall be those who minister unto the Church. The person in the Lord's Church who is the greatest is the one who serves all. The Savior came not to be ministered to, but to minister to all others. He also came to give His life so that all may be resurrected and all may have the opportunity to repent and have their sins forgiven them so that they can live with Heavenly Father and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, forever.
Luke 9:22-25
Luke 9:22-25
For verse 22, see the commentary on Matthew 20:17-19. For verse 23, see the commentary on Matthew 16:24. For verses 24-25, see the commentary of Matthew 16:25-26. The JST gives some additional insights on verses 23-24. They follow: 24 For whosoever will save his life, must be willing to lose it for my sake; and whosoever will be willing to lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and yet he receive him not whom God hath ordained, and he lose his own soul, and he himself be a castaway? We need to lose our lives in the service of the Master, if we want to gain eternal life. Our will needs to be swallowed up in His will. We must receive those whom God has ordained. Who are these persons? They are His prophets, seers, and revelators. We must follow the counsel of His servants.
Luke 9:43-45
In the previous verses, the Savior heals the child of a man that has an unclean or evil spirit, which His disciples could not heal. The people were amazed at the Savior's power in the Priesthood. For He not only held the Priesthood, but as the only perfect person, He could exercise all its powers for the benefit of others. Then the Savior exhorts His disciples let his sayings “sink down into your ears” for He was going to be taken from them. They did not understand this; it was hide from them; they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask the Savior. The Savior knew this, but He did not explain it then, because He knew that through the power of the Holy Ghost after His resurrection that they would know and understand it.
Luke 18:31-34
In this version the Savior mentioned that prophecies about the Messiah will be fulfilled. The prophets prophecied that the Savior would be delivered unto the Gentiles, be mocked, spitefully entreated, spit upon, scourged, put to death and then rise again. But the disciples did not make the connection of between the prophecies and the Savior. It has hid from them, and they did not understand the things that were spoken concerning the death and resurrection of the Messiah.
