It is obvious, that the people and even the disciples thought the same, for, after making so many claims, he was finally dead, laid and sealed in a tomb; finished! And after this unbelievable catastrophe, His disciples stayed together, behind closed doors in fear of the Jews, fearing the whole corrupt political, and religious set up! It seemed to the faithful disciples that the campaign of hate against their Lord and master, has succeeded. Beginning with John the Baptist, whom Herod Antipas executed. Then, after many attempts to silence Jesus, whom they would never manage to eliminate, they could not have done so, if He had not surrendered wilfully to them in the garden of Gethsemane. He did it, knowing the time had come to lay down His life to accomplish God’s plan to atone for the sins of His people. 

When Jesus mentioned on few occasions that he was going to die and rise on the third day they could not take it in. At one point in His journeying, Jesus went to the very northern limits of Palestine, at the source of the Jordan river which flows from Mount Hermon and runs into the dead sea. It was there in Phenicia. He asked His disciples, because much had been said about Him following the miracles He performed. It is written: ‘When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked his disciples: What do people say the Son of Man is? They replied: Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ Jesus was enquiring of them knowing fully well what was said about Him, but he was coming to the purpose of His question and said: ‘But what about you, He asked, Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ It is amazing what people thought then, and still think about Jesus until now. They easily come to believe certain things about our Lord, but cannot believe who he really is; that no man can know, it is made clear when as Jesus said to Peter: ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, (or your own intelligence) but by my Father in heaven.’ (Matthew 16: 13-17) All the disciples believed the same thing, we often see that they left it to Peter to speak for all of them, even Judas who was going to betray Jesus, did not dissent.

 ‘Following this amazing confession Matthew writes that: ‘From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took Him aside and begun to rebuke Him. Never, Lord! He said: This shall never happen to you! Jesus turned and said to Peter: Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men!’ (Matthew 16:21-23) There are other references to this fact, but I do not want to dwell on them now, but with all references to it, we see that even in the upper room, as they were commemorating the Passover, few hours before the crucifixion, they were expecting the Lord to reveal Himself as their King. They were instructed that way in their synagogues, for the Jews never understood from scriptures that their Messiah would go that way, and come a second time to reign! It is declared later by the apostle Paul: ‘Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face the judgement, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those that are waiting for Him.’ (Hebrews 9: 27) 

They carried this in their hearts, yet it ended in ashes, for Jesus, their, would be king, was dead! Even we say, don’t we? ‘As long as there is life there is hope.’/I wonder if those writers, cleverer than me, believed that even when Jesus was on the cross, that they expected Him to come off it! But they saw Him die, taken from the cross and put into a tomb, which was sealed! They left the scene, for the sabbath had started, they locked themselves and stayed behind closed doors for fear of the Jews! Feeling no doubt for their lives. Yet, for a short while only, Satan’s camp was exuberant, for this mob, managed, in their evil ways, to convince Pilate to crucify Jesus, whom they hated and regarded Him just as an ignorant Galilean, a carpenter, who thought too much of himself, for that is what they thought of Him.