The true mission of Jesus: We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. Luke 24:21

The lives of Jesus' disciples were a demonstration of the validity of many of the divine teacher's parables. Through these fantastic tales, Jesus announced to his disciples the arrival of the Kingdom of God, but due to a lack of understanding and wisdom, they were unable to grasp the spiritual meaning of his teachings. Jesus taught them that the Kingdom of God is like a hidden treasure and a pearl of great price, but the disciples wondered what all this was that Jesus was talking about. The disciples thought that, given their situation, Jesus would come to establish a new Israel according to the flesh, and this was not far-fetched, because the priest Mattathias and his sons had already managed to establish an independent Israel centuries before with the Hasmonean dynasty, after the death of Alexander the Great.
Jesus always criticized his disciples for their lack of understanding, but he also knew that this hidden treasure and pearl of great price would be revealed at Pentecost with the arrival of the Holy Spirit, with his spiritual gifts. Jesus, in his wisdom, was patient, tolerant, and knew how to wait for the right time, because while he was on earth, the vineyard that he had planted among men had not yet yielded the expected fruit. Jesus had come into the world not to establish a Kingdom of Israel according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
And there is an account in the Gospel of Luke that shows the truth of all this. Jesus had risen from the dead, and two of his disciples were heading towards a place called Emmaus. As his disciples were walking along the road, Jesus approached them, but they did not recognize him. And Jesus, curious, approached them and asked them what they were arguing about. And so they told him about what happened with their master with these words: "He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel" Luke 24:19-21. Jesus then answered them without revealing himself that all this happened so that the prophecies announced by the prophets might be fulfilled.
This misunderstanding of the disciples regarding the true mission of Jesus persisted until they received the Holy Spirit and were thus able to understand the true meaning of the Kingdom of God and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

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