They could not perceive it

The text from the Gospel of Luke today in the Roman Catholic Lectionary reveals the difficulty of the followers of Jesus hearing that He would be betrayed into human hands. The texts from Zechariah and Jeremiah outline the understanding of the fulfillment which is promised the people of God from the return of the exiles from Babylon and the reconstruction of the Temple. Jesus is identified by Peter as the Messiah. The gathering of the faithful in Jerusalem will now be marked by the ecstasy of the prophesy of God living with them being fulfilled. Can betrayal and death be part of this scenario? The many people who are declared by Zechariah to be part of the new Jerusalem are invited through the will of the Father and the action of Jesus to know that any walls which previously separated them from being in communion with God through the Covenant which came through Israel but now is clearly for all people have been destroyed. The mercy and forgiveness of Jesus for Israel is the mercy and forgiveness for all. The depths of the love of Creator for creature is difficult to perceive.