For the first time Jesus plainly speaks about what no one expected. The Christ, prophesied to be Israel’s mighty and everlasting King, must suffer terrible things, be rejected by the elders, and be killed. But He will rise from the dead. A dead Christ? A condemned King? Dying and rising? Right in the center of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus reveals the heart of His mission, but His disciples cannot grasp it. Rejection and death certainly was not what the disciples were expecting. They expected victory, not defeat. Without paying for our sins by suffering pain on the cross, or defeating death through His resurrection, Jesus’ previous healings and miracles would, at best, have been temporary reprieves. We need to remember this truth—the King’s pain is our balm.