Matthew 17:22-23 - Jesus foretells His resurrection; why are the apostles surprised?

[Rejoice]

I’m confused about Matthew 17:22-23 –

As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

Since Jesus foretells of His resurrection, why do the apostles not wait by the tomb for Him to be raised on the third day? Why are they so surprised when what He says will happen does happen?

 

[Todd_Easton]

Mark gives us a clue:
31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” 32But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him. (Mark 9:31-32)

 

[Grace_and_Glory]

One thing F.J. Sheed said in To Know Christ Jesus was that in some ways, the disciples’ trust in Jesus’ power might have been one factor that prevented them from understanding what He was saying. After all, they had seen Him raise people from the dead, so it was pretty clear that He had power over death. If He had that power over death, how could He die? When He did die, it may have seemed to the disciples that He had been defeated by death.

This is just my own opinion, but I also don’t think the disciples really believed Him when He said that He would suffer and die. It seemed like one of those things He would say and they would try to forget about it or change the topic as soon as possible, because they thought He was just being strange.