At a point late in his ministry, Jesus lays it out plainly:
“The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day” (Matthew 17:22-23).
The ones who had eaten the bread, seen the dead rise, and–one of them, even–walked on water, were now, as the verse ends, “greatly distressed at this news.”
This, I don’t think, is simply a testament of their immaturity (though they may well have been immature).
Instead, this is what happens once we’ve walked so near Jesus and now face the prospect of losing him.
In the days before the comfort of the spirit, it was Jesus, directly, they looked to.
In many ways, the disciples here are our models today.
Is distress the emotion we feel at the prospect of not seeing or hearing from God?
If it’s not…then perhaps it’s us who are the immature ones.
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