Dianne wants to know, “Why were Christ’s words “concealed” from the apostles so that “they might not perceive it?” (Luke 9:45)
In this section of Luke, we see Jesus being revealed as God’s Messiah (v. 20), a further revealing of what was involved in being the Messiah (i.e., suffering, death, and resurrection – v. 22). Then these truths are all rehearsed in the Transfiguration revealing where He appeared in “glorious splendor” as He spoke with Moses and Elijah about His “departure, which He was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem” (v. 31). These revealings are critical to Luke’s narrative, as they strip away popular misconceptions about the Christ and point us to His mission of redemption through His suffering, death, and resurrection.
I think that’s the essence of what’s behind Jesus words being “hidden” or “concealed” from the apostles. They didn’t get the message Jesus was sharing with them about His upcoming rejection. It wasn’t because Jesus didn’t communicate it—He did. I don’t think we’re to understand the text as suggesting there was some type of divine hiding or concealing. They didn’t get it because it was in complete contradiction to the popular view of the Messiah. (Think of Peter’s response to Jesus in Matthew 16:21-23).
We’re no different. When we hear something that’s just too difficult to reconcile with our current thinking, we are unable to assimilate it (cognitive dissonance). When we hear something terrible has happened to someone close to us, we want to think there has been some mistake, some confusion, some misunderstanding. As someone has said, we don’t always see things the way they are—we sometimes see them the way we are. I think that is what the apostles were doing and why the truth was hidden or concealed from them.
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 