Striking the shepherd

“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Mark 14:27-28
Jesus spoke these words to His disciples after the Last Supper. He knew He had merely hours before He would be arrested, put through a kangaroo court, falsely accused, beaten, whipped, scourged, mocked, and ultimately crucified.
The passage Jesus quotes is from Zech. 13:7. He is the Good Shepherd (John 10, Ps. 23). These words are also reminiscent of God’s words to Satan in the Garden of Eden: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel” (Gen. 3:15). At the crucifixion, Satan struck Jesus’ heel – a crippling blow. But in the same act, Jesus crushed Satan’s head – a fatal blow, destroying his power over mankind.
Also note how Jesus tells the disciples about the resurrection. He had told the disciples on several previous occasions that He would be killed, and raised to life on the third day. Even here, when His death is imminent, He gives them instructions about what to do after His resurrection. Although it is only afterwards that they remembered His words (Luke 24:6-8), He never stopped reminding them. They had only ever focused on the first part – Jesus’ death. But Jesus always had the resurrection in mind.