Mark 9:30-32

³⁰ Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.

³¹ For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.”

³² But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

Also found in Matthew 17:22-23 and Luke 9:43-45.

This (v.30) is the beginning of the final journey to Jerusalem where the Lord was crucified.

betrayed (v.31) = handing someone over to another, “selling down the river.” Tense indicates an action that is imminent and in the process of accomplishment. The Lord already knew what Judas was thinking.

afraid (v.32) — Afraid possibly of again showing their ignorance, or, perhaps, afraid of knowing the worst; for they still hoped for an immediate Kingdom of outward glory. — Williams, page 737.

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In fact they comprehended enough to shrink from hearing more. They did not dare to lift the veil which covered a mystery so dreadful; they feared to ask Him. … No wonder that these Galileans recoiled from searching what was the calamity which weighed so heavily upon the mighty spirit of their Master. Do no men stifle the voice of conscience, and refuse to examine themselves whether they are in the faith, in the same abject dread of knowing the facts and looking the inevitable in the face? — Chadwick, page 250.

In other words, if you don’t want the answer, don’t ask the question.