Throughout the majority of the disciples’ time with Jesus, they failed to recognize or understand who Jesus was or what He was doing. Even when they acknowledged Him as Messiah, their understanding of what “Messiah” was supposed to be was vastly different from Jesus in reality. Jesus repeatedly revealed His purposes and His path as the way of the cross, and He called the disciples to walk the way of the cross with Him. Yet, the disciples still didn’t understand. Do we truly understand the way of the cross? Or have we, like His disciples, imposed our own understanding and desires on what Jesus is doing in our lives? We would prefer to avoid suffering. We’d like a Messiah who made our paths easy and wide, instead of one who offers the narrow way of the cross (Matthew 7:13-14). But, to follow Jesus, we must walk the way of the cross.