Afraid of the Question or the Answer?

I came across an interesting verse this morning that I had never really considered before. Jesus is predicting his death and resurrection and the disciples are just clueless about what he's talking about. Then there's this verse in Mark 9:32

"But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it."

Isn't that interesting? I always kind of pictured Jesus with sort of a teacher-student relationship with the disciples, or as a friend, or even kind of a big brother. Why do you think they were "afraid to ask him about it?" Were they tired of being called out for being wrong? Peter got rebuked in the previous chapter pretty strongly by Jesus the last time Jesus was telling them about what was going to happen, so maybe that's part of it.

But I've gotta think that Jesus was open to questions. He was a rabbi, after all, and every teacher I know certainly welcomes questions (you know, within reason). I wonder if maybe they were afraid they did understand what he was talking about, and they didn't want to face the truth. Were they afraid of the question, or more afraid of the answer?

It made me wonder about us: are there things we don't understand that God might be willing to explain, but we just don't ask? If so, what are we afraid of? Are we afraid God is going to rebuke us for asking a question? Or is there a truth we don't want to face? 

What questions are you afraid to ask?