That’s what lots of people think when it comes to Jesus stuff.

“I will never understand the Bible. I will never understand these stories. I will never understand God and theology.”

Neither did the disciples.

John writes oddly. He shifts from describing events in Jesus’ life to the inside of the disciples’ heads at the time of the event to their later understanding. It breaks the flow, like an narrator who suddenly looks at the audience and speaks out of character. It feels like a commentary inside the story rather than one that sits nicely on the shelf.

Sometimes that style is perfect.

John 12:12-16 contains one of those times. This is John’s version of part of Palm Sunday. That’s when Jesus approaches Jerusalem and everyone creates a parade. Donkey, colt, palm branches, cloaks on the ground, “hosanna”.  We read about it and think, “Wow! And to think they killed him a few days later! Fickle crowd. Not like us.”

But John writes,

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

The crowd had seen Jesus on a donkey and decided to quote familiar words, words from the Psalms and the Prophets. It just seemed like the thing to do, the way someone says “Subway” and I say “eat fresh.”

What the disciples didn’t understand was that this wasn’t a coincidence. The words from Psalm 118 and Zechariah 3 didn’t just happen to fit. They had been written about this particular parade. They weren’t appropriate, they were prophetic.

But at the time? The disciples had no idea. They just stayed in the parade, following Jesus, hoping it would take them somewhere, wanting to understand.

Funny. Still works.