Mark | Chapter 9

Mark 9:1-8

“Glory through the veil of humanity”

1. Introduction
2. Vs. 1 A preview 
3. Vs. 2-8 Fourfold impact of the transfiguration

Introduction

One Greek scholar listed the first rule of scripture interpretation as: “Ignoring all chapter divisions”. All chapters and verse numbering were added at a much later date: (Chapter’s were added in the 13^th century and verse numbers were added in the 16^th century) and in both cases they were added for ease of referencing. The problem is that though they have aided in finding a specific verse, they have been guilty of adding confusion to what they referenced. Such is the case in this chapter division as verse 1 of chapter 9 should have been the last verse of chapter 8. Look at this section we note that over the course of a few days Jesus had spoken to His disciples about the cross and now He will speak them about the crown!

Vs. 1 A preview

Vs. 1 In verse 38 Jesus was speaking to the people and His disciples concerning the process of discipleship which led to the motivation and expectation for making such a decision. In finishing this Jesus gave reference to the fact that He will be the person who alone will weigh the actions of people who have claimed they have accepted His invitation. In fact, Jesus even tells them “WHEN” this will take place as He says, “when I come in the glory of the Father with the holy angels.” The fact that Jesus says that His coming will be “with the holy angels” tells us that the timing of this event is NOT the rapture of the church but rather His second coming which ushers in His Millennial region. We know this because according to scripture at the rapture He is not accompanied by angels. This aids us in our interpretation of verse 1 with regards to the meaning of the phrase, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” Jesus was saying that some standing with Him wouldn’t die until they saw the millennial reign of Christ. Though this answers the question as to timing it leaves us with yet another question because Peter, James and John are all dead. The answer to what this phrase means can only be speaking of transfiguration which was a picture or typology of the millennial reign of Christ. Jesus clearly knew that this event was approaching as He announced its arrival according to verse 2 six days prior to it happening, and in so doing He explained the reason for it before it ever took place. Further more He had done so after He had announced the cross and the threefold way of discipleship.

            You can see the confusion this chapter division has caused some as they suggest that Jesus was some how predicting the time of His 2^nd coming to occur within the life time of those who were present with Him and since they died Jesus was wrong. But when you remove this awful chapter division you see clearly that Jesus was referencing His transfiguration which was meant as a “preview” of His coming millennial reign in glory. We know this is the correct interpretation of this verse when we cross reference it to 2 Peter 1:16-17. There Peter along with James and John were at this very event and Peter writes, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This is also referenced in John’s gospel chapter 1 verse 14 where John says that “we beheld His glory”. 

Now what’s exciting to me is what this verse also implies as it relates to the 2^nd coming of Christ in His glory and the kingdom of God being present with power. Jesus implies in the phrase “some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power” that at DEATH the believer WILL “see the kingdom of God present with power”! This of course is what other verses in the bible tells us as well, that when the believer dies we are instantly in the presence of the Lord. What is of further interest to me is that it appears that this has always been the case even prior to the the incarnation of Christ as Jude verse 14 references “Enoch, the 7^th from Adam”, who prophesied about: “The Lord coming with thousands upon thousands of His holy ones”. Amazingly this is a reference to the 2^nd coming of Christ but done prior to Jesus 1^st coming. It seems as though as far as “seeing the glory of the Son and the kingdom of God coming in power” everything is pointing to the 2^nd coming to experience that and there are two ways this can happen for the believer:

• Death
• Rapture

Vs. 2-8 Fourfold impact of the transfiguration

Vs. 2-8 Through out these remaining verses Peter told Mark of four things that he never forgot about the event of Jesus’ “transformation”.

1. Vs. 2-3 What Jesus looked like: Mark doesn’t tell us specifically which mountain Jesus, Peter, James and John ascended but most believe it to be Mount Hermon in Northern Israel. The Greek word Mark uses to describe Jesus transformation is “metamorphoomai” and it is where we get our English word “Metamorphosis”. The word refers to the “act of giving outward expression of one’s inner character.” A full translation of this would be “Jesus’ outward expression was changed before them and it did so because it was a true representation of His inner nature.” The usual outward expression of Jesus was the “Man of Sorrows, the one acquainted with our grief”. But suddenly He was transformed into the Glory of Son of God the essence of Deity, which He had always possessed and it shone through the clay walls of His humanity and even through the garments He wore. It was the same dazzling radiance the angels saw in Jesus’ preincarnate state that Paul describes in Philippians chapter 2 verse 6 where he wrote concerning Jesus that He was, “in the form of God, and did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.” Mark says in verse 3 “His clothes became shinning, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.” Matthew adds that “His face shone like the sun” and the point is that in this transfiguration Jesus’ radiant glory was not borrowed like our moon from the suns reflection instead His radiant glory came from within, from who He truly was. In fact, the word “shining” in Greek indicates that it was ACTIVE and as such a picture of what He will be like to all who see Him during His millennial reign. This was a momentary glimpse of His eternal glory that shone through the veil of His humanity. It is what Jesus would pray to the Father a year later in John chapter 17:5 that all of us Christians would experience when He said, “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” One of the implications of the transfiguration is that Jesus clearly didn’t need to die or pass through death to receive this glory. He clearly always possessed it and was able to pass back across the boundary of time into eternity with out passing through death. That reminds us about two things with regards to His death on the cross: It wasn’t ever about Jesus regaining that which He lost because clearly He never lost it. Second, it reminds us that Jesus was clearly not afraid to loss His earthly life because it would never change or alter who He essentially was.        
2. Vs. 4 Who was with Jesus: Mark records for us that Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. The Greek has it that they were actively engaged in a conversation with Him. I would have very much wished that Peter would have had the for thought to write that one down for us but for now we will just have to wait until we see Him face to face. There are several interesting details in this story that indirectly lead us to some interesting conclusions about eternity with Jesus.
3. Jesus makes no introductions as to whom these two men are and there were no photographs of them and yet they seemingly know exactly who they are. That tells me that in glory there will be no need for introductions; we will just know each other instantly!
4. Why are the two Elijah and Moses? Why not David and Abraham? Well I believe that they represent several things:
5. They represent the make up the two great sections of the Old Testament scriptures, Moses = the law and Elijah = the prophets. The law according to Paul’s words in Galatians “drove people to Jesus” and the prophets “provided the map and directions as to where to find Him”.

• They also represent the two ways which believers can enter into heaven: Moses = death and Elijah = caught up into heaven or the rapture. It is interesting that both ways are represented in the transfiguration of Jesus. It is interesting to speculate on Moses first arrival into the promise land. Moses had been left up on a mountain over looking the land of promise and was never allowed to enter in for his miss representation the character of God. But here in glory Moses gets to come into the land he could only see at a distance. That tells me that there are experiences here in this life that we may never get to fully understand that the prohibition will be forever lifted in heaven. Moses finally made it past his failures and so will we!
• Finally, though Mark doesn’t record the conversation Luke 9:31 tells us that the general theme of the conversation was of “Jesus decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” Simply put the conversation centered upon Jesus soon exit from his earthly tabernacle back to His heavenly one by means of His death upon a cross for our sins. This causes me to wonder if the conversation wasn’t specific with reference to each man: Moses conversation would have centered upon how Jesus soon sacrifice as the Lamb of God would be the fulfillment of what the animal sacrifices pointed to in the law. Elijah’s conversation would have centered in upon how His death and resurrection was to fulfill all those prophecies in the scriptures.      
• Vs. 5-6 The proposal of Peter: The third interesting detail that Mark records is Peter’s reaction to Jesus, Elijah and Moses discussing what Luke has told us was Jesus upcoming death in Jerusalem. What is interesting is that the Greek doesn’t indicate that Peter had been a part of the discussion at all. In fact, the word “answered” is a compound word that means “to give off one’s judgment without being asked”. Peter than goes on to say, that it was “good” for the three of them to be there and uses a word for good that means, “beautiful” or excellent and then suggests that the three of them get started in making three tents for shelter. I’m certain that Peter wanted Mark to include the reason for this outburst was extreme fear. But nonetheless Peter had not been called to say anything and silence would have been a far better course of action that what he said. The assessment in all accounts where this story is recorded is that Peter spoke foolishly. I wonder if the point of Peter’s words in fear was to suggest headquarters that would set in motion a worldwide movement? There are always two kinds of people in these kinds of situations: Those who have something to say and those who have to say something! And Peter like many of us at times falls into the later category.
• Vs. 7-8 The voice of God from the cloud: Immediately after this foolish proposal we have the fourth and final recorded detail of the transfiguration. Mark writes of the suddenness of the appearance of the cloud and gives us a better understanding of the cloud as being a specific shape and size and not a vapor thus it speaks of the Shekinah Glory which guided Israel out of Egypt and then resided above the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. Matthew tells us that it was “bright cloud” that a voice spoke saying, “This is My beloved son. Hear Him!” The emphasis is upon two things: That Jesus is the Messiah God’s Son and that He is the beloved One. They are told to be constantly hearing Him and the word means more than just listening to be actively obeying what you heard. It appears that this came as a rebuke from the Father to Peter’s fear based response saying in essence, “Peter, don’t put My Son on the same level as Moses and Elijah. Listen to Him!” Jesus was the only One to fulfill all the predictions of the prophets and is the fulfilment of the law, He was no mere man like Moses and Elijah. There were three occasions direct from heaven concerning the work of Jesus: At His baptism, which when He began His ministry, where He was addressed “You are My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Here on the Mount of Transfiguration, where the Father speaks to correct Peter’s mistake. And the final is in John 12:28 where the Father responds to Jesus prayer to glorify His name, to which the Father responds, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”                               

Vs. 8 There comes a time when all our searching for answers to the perplexing questions of life end at the feet of Jesus and you look around and He is the only one there.  

The transfiguration is a confirmation that Jesus had lived a sinless life, and could have gone directly into heaven. He didn’t need to leave humanity with any explanation of justification for our sin before His departure to the Father. Instead Jesus came down from Mount Hermon, to climb Mount Calvary, the Mount of our redemption!

Mark 9:9-13

“Truth verse theology”

1. Introduction
2. Vs. 9-10 The clarification of the cross
3. Vs. 11-13 Through a glass dimly

Introduction

Mark ends the account of the transfiguration by telling us that after the voice that came out of the clouds ended, “suddenly they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.” This is the only place in the New Testament where the Greek word “suddenly” is found and is used to signify a change in situation which they had discovered when they had looked around and saw no one but Jesus. What follows is that Jesus issues a verbal prohibition until He after He has risen from the dead, which set in motion then questioning as to what this had meant followed by a second coming question as to the sequence of events that would lead up to that. This is the 2^nd of two verbal prohibitions within a short amount of time. What is even more amazing is that what Jesus told them not to tell anyone are the two single most important things His followers could ever tell a lost world: What He has come to do and who He is! The theology of the Jews and the disciples at this time is what we often see with people today: “What they wish and desire to be the TRUTH they believe instead of way God has ordered as the truth!” And as is often the case this blinded them to seeing the truth!  

     

Vs. 9-10 The clarification of the cross

Vs. 9-10 As these three came down the mountain having witnessed Jesus transfiguration they were naturally thinking of what they had just observed, then Jesus issued His injunction that they must tell no one what they had seen. These men did not come down the mountain the way they came up, such is often the case when Jesus reveals who He truly is to us. Jesus knew that their minds were still polluted by the popular notions of the Messiah and there was only one thing that could change their wrongly held theology, THE CROSS.

            The word used in the Greek for “tell” means to “lead a person through a series of events giving a narrative”. Used in this sentence it describes the fact that Jesus didn’t just issue a prohibition against communication He lead them through the reason why. What this reveal to us is that the three disciple’s ignorance was not based upon lack of instruction but rather the pollution of WRONG INSTRCTION. Jesus wanted them to keep silent as to such a time after He had risen from the dead so that He could correct their wrong theology.

            They kept the prohibition faithfully while continually question each other as to the meaning the meaning of “risen from the dead”. The death of Jesus was something that these three had a difficult time comprehending. What fascinates me is that they locked in upon His dying but not upon His rising from the dead. We see that three things that grab our attention as we look at this section:

1. That they were prohibited from communicating what they had witnessed
2. That they were confused about what Jesus meant by the timing of then prohibition, “till the Son of Man has risen from the dead”
3. That they were puzzled about the answer to their question
4. The first answer is an obvious as Jesus didn’t want then to speak about something they clearly didn’t understand themselves.
5. The 2^nd answer as to the prohibition was that it was “time sensitive”! They were free from restriction AFTER He had risen from the dead. The implication is that this would be the time when they would understand what they had witnessed.
6. The final answer with regards to what puzzled them about the phrase has to do with two phrases that are different but often placed as meaning the same things: “Risen from the dead” and “risen FROM AMONG the dead”. The idea that dead people would one day rise was not new but the idea that a dead person would rise OUT FROM AMONG the dead was and it was this that they clearly heard Jesus say about Himself and didn’t understand. 

      Vs. 11-13 Through a glass dimly

Vs. 11 The verb tense in the phrase “they asked” is imperfect which means that they continually questioned Jesus about “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

The scribes misinterpreted Malachi chapter 4 verse 5 and wrongly predicted that Elijah would come and pave the way for the Messiah’s reign, missing entirely the reason for the first coming. As far as the scribes were concerned they taught about Elijah being caught up in his “chariot of fire” in 2 Kings chapter 2 verse 11 as not dying and coming back. The rabbinical tradition was that before the Messiah came Elijah would come and be His herald. And the disciples were very much caught up in this theology that looked for the emergence of Elijah before the coming of the Messiah. To them this signified God interrupting time and instituting the victory of heaven which would signify the victory of Israel over her enemies. According to this tradition based upon Malachi chapter 3 Elijah would come three days before the Messiah:

• On the first day Elijah would stand upon the mountains of Israel lamenting the desolation of the land. Then he would shout in a voice heard from one end of the world to the other, “Peace comes to the world, peace comes to the world!”
• On the 2^nd day Elijah would again stand upon the mountains of Israel and shout this time saying, “Good has come to the world, good has come to the world!”
• On the 3^rd day Elijah would stand upon the mountains and shout, “Yeshuah (Salvation) has come to the world, Yeshuah (Salvation) has come to the world!”

And with the threefold three-day announcement by Elijah the Messiah would restore all things, mending families, establishing rituals, cleansing the nation by bringing back the exiled patriots. They perceived that with Elijah coming there would be the constant activity of heaven on earth in their interest. As such they were wondering, “If Jesus is the Messiah what happened to Elijah?” They took this theology of men and attributed it to God’s plan, so Jesus took this faulty teaching and drove them back to the truth that they would not face saying that, “The people had done what they wanted with Elijah in typology John the Baptist and if they have done that with Elijah what do you suppose they will do with the Messiah?”

Vs. 12-13 To understand this section, we need to be very careful least we mix up the pronouns, as Jesus is correcting them in the mist of answering them. He changes the subject about Elijah coming first, to that of Himself suffering many things and being treat with contempt. Then in verse 13 He again goes back to Elijah having already come. “Indeed” is a word that means “It is true” and is use by Jesus to answer their questioning but it also signifies that Jesus wanted them to think further and to realize that they were asking the wrong question. The phrase “restoring of all things” in reference to the for runner (Elijah / John the Baptist) was setting in motion the suffering, rejection, death and resurrection of the Messiah. This was the question they should have asked, “Why does the Messiah need to be rejected, suffer, die and raise again?” Their focus was of timing and should have been on substance! Jesus had already identified Elijah and his timing in Matthew chapter 11 verse 14 where Jesus answered the question proposed by John’s followers concerning His identity, where Jesus says, “And if you are willing to receive it, he (John the Baptist) is Elijah who is coming.” Jesus is not saying that John is actually Elijah or that John’s appearance was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy concerning Elijah coming at the conclusion of the tribulation period as one of the two witnesses of described in Revelation chapter 11. What Jesus is describing in reference to John the Baptist and Elijah is that John is coming in the spirit and power of Elijah in fulfilling Malachi’s prophecy of chapter 3 preparing the way before the first coming of the Messiah which will be characterized by purifying the son’s of Levi, coming near for judgment.

            It is interesting to compare Mark’s account with Matthew 17:12-13 as Matthew elaborates further saying that Jesus said “Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Like wise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.” Then Matthew includes his commentary saying in verse 13, “Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.” The point of emphasis with regards to Jesus words is that it isn’t recorded any where that Elijah would suffer and be rejected but it was prophesied about this happening to the Messiah. So Jesus is saying, “Elijah has come and will come but it is written that the Messiah is going to be rejected, suffer and die and on the 3^rd day rise again.” The real issue wasn’t the timing of the coming of the Elijah but the purpose and coming of the Messiah and the disciples had the wrong focus. Again according to Matthews account Jesus indicated that John the Baptist symbolically fulfilled Elijah’s roll as preparing the way in Malachi’s prophecy. This is further brought in Luke’s account of chapter 1 verse 17 where the angel of the Lord tells John’s father Zacharias that John “will go before Him (Jesus) in the spirit and power of Elijah….to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Mark 9:14-29

“Miss-focused faith”

1. Introduction
2. Vs. 14-19 Failure of the followers
3. Vs. 20-27 Source of faith or success of faith?
4. Vs. 28-29 What or Who are you trusting in?

Introduction

When reading the Bible at times, it appears to have been written abstractly, as random events are placed next to each other without the seeming slightest connection. We could understand this when we consider that these human writers were not trained in penning novels but for us Christians this presents a difficulty. We believe the Bible to be authored by God and when seemingly random stories are placed next to each other without any visible connection, doubt as to its divine origins creeps in. Such is the difficulty in the account given by Mark of the demon possessed boy whom the disciples could not deliver. Before we can unravel this difficult story we are confronted with the question of: “What does this story have to do with Peter, James and John witnessing Jesus’ transfiguration?” The connection between these two stories seem as far apart as possible. But based upon verse 14 it is clear by Mark’s narrative that they are connected as this event takes place right at the foot of the Mountain as Jesus arrived with the three disciples. The four of them interrupt an on going scene as the remaining disciples were trying to be of service while facing the opposition both from the scribes who were present and the case its self.

            As mentioned the gospel has made a turn as we are now on the road to Calvary and Mark lead by the Spirit of God has begun to answer the question as to, “Why were those who witnessed Jesus unaware that He was the Son of God.” Last week we noted the confusion Peter, James and John had with regards to the 1^st coming of Christ and His soon death, burial and resurrection. Here we note what happens when His followers fail to make the personal connection to His sacrifice on their behalf; it leads to a paralysis of power. As we shall soon discover in the remaining story it was not because of absences of faith but instead a miss-focus of faith. The connection is that miss-focus of faith has practical implications of paralysis of power!

Vs. 14-19 Failure of the followers

Vs. 14-19 One of the rules of biblical interpretation is to always seek your interpretation when given within the passage your studying. Here in looking at the ineffectiveness of the disciples in casting out the demon from the boy we are told in the 19^th verse by Jesus that their problem was “faithlessness”.  But that is a broad diagnosis that will require us to dig further into this passage if we are going to understand who it was aimed at as well as what Jesus meant by it. There are several mitigating factors that seemed to make this case unique:

1. Vs. 14 First is the length of time that the disciples had been at this which is suggested in two statements: That as Jesus and the three disciples entered the scene there was a “great multitude” around them and that “scribes were there disputing with the disciples”. I for one am impressed with the consistent and continual effort put forth by the disciples, especially when you factor in a great amount of people observing their failure as well as the direct and constant opposition in the scribes who were disputing with them in the process. What this suggests to me is that the disciples were utterly convinced of their inevitable success.  This means that their failure had nothing to do with a lack of effort, nor did it come from a lack of faith in the process. I make this observation based upon the text as well as observing humanity. Both the continual witness of the multitudes and the continual opposition of the scribes would have: Put a halt in anyone who was not committed to the process or had lingering doubts of its eventual success!
2. Vs. 15-18 It is equally clear that upon recognizing Jesus the people were “greatly amazed” at the lack of progress of the disciples and expected to see different results now that He had arrived. It also appears in Jesus’ response to the Scribes that He saw their involvement as a hindrance rather than a help to His disciples. When the spiritual dimension is placed next to the combination of the severity of the physical symptoms mentioned in verse 18 that masked epilepsy; with the self destructive spiritual possessed tendencies in verse 22, we see from a practical stand point that this case was unusual. It would be incorrect to make the leap in suggesting that all epilepsy is caused by demonic possession, instead of realizing that this peculiar case was masking its self with such symptoms. That combined with the father’s answer to Jesus’ inquiry as to the length of time that his boy had suffered being from childhood make this a very difficult case. We get a further understanding of this in Jesus’ own words in verse 29 where He says, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”          

Vs. 19 Having made for allowances with regards to the difficulty of the case Jesus goes to answering the fathers statement of verse 18 concerning the inability of the disciples to cast out the demon from his son. His initial statement is that the inability came about do to a “faithless generation” that though He had been among them still didn’t understand the necessity of the continual personal connection to Him. We are left to our interpretive skills to determine who was included in the title of “faithless generation”. I’m of the belief that this included all present: The great multitude, scribes and by the response of the father in verse 23-24 him as well. But as seen by Jesus response to His disciple’s inquiry of verse 28 they were also included in this “faithless generation”. It is the disciple’s “faithlessness” that is the primary focus of the remainder of the passage. This is what is the great surprise of this section of scripture because the disciple’s exhibited qualities that we normally associate with faith not faithlessness:

• Uninterrupted trust: Even in the face of prolonged failure and fierce opposition.
• Expectation of success: They maintained this even when the results didn’t match their continual effort. As noted, their surprise was that it had not succeeded as they were convinced that it would and apparently so much so that the process was not something that they doubted instead they wanted to know was missing that would have given them success.   

Vs. 20-27 Source of faith or success of faith?

Vs. 20-27 Before we get to deep into looking at the disciples faithless we are first given Jesus’ addressing the father’s faithlessness. At Jesus’ request the young man is brought to Him where he manifests the physical symptoms already described by the father in verse 18. It is then that as I mentioned earlier Jesus like the “Great Physician” that He is asks the length of time that the patient has been manifesting these symptoms. The father replies since childhood then adds in the spiritual dimension to this of self destruction. The father then makes the plea, “IF You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” There are three things that stand out in this plea:

• The father clearly has doubts that anything can be done, as he uses the word “IF”. There are several reasons for this confessed unbelief: The longevity and severity of his son’s condition. As well as the failed attempts to offer any solution to any of the symptoms both physical as well as spiritual. And lastly, the failed attempt by Jesus own disciples to help his son and I assume that the father was only holding a slight hope that Jesus could do something that others were unable to do.
• Secondly I notice the desperation of the father has: He has given up on a cure and now is only trusting and hoping for a lessoning of the symptoms as he asks, “if you can do ANYTHING.”
• The final thing I notice is that the father’s appeal is based upon the severity of the case not upon their worthiness as he asks Jesus to have “compassion on us and help us.” 

Vs. 23-24 In Jesus’ response to the father the focus of Jesus reply is towards his unbelief and put’s the doubt back on him saying, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” The words believe are not in the original text although they are implied, instead Jesus uses a Jewish idiom “If I can…?”. There is also a play on words in the Greek as Jesus says, “If you CAN…..all things CAN BE”, then Jesus puts over the contrast of the “anything” of the father next to the “all things” of the Son of God. The father was willing to settle for “anything” and Jesus tells him that he need not settle for “anything” when he is willing to trust Him for “all things possible”. This allows the father to address his own heart that has slipped into unbelief as he confesses this before Jesus. He asks Jesus to be continually helping his unbelief, a great request for us all. I wonder if the tears were shed not only because of the confession but also the realization that such doubt had caused him to lesson his expectation and hope of health and deliverance for his son?

Vs. 25-27 It seems as though Jesus wanted to avoid the spectacle of the young man’s deliverance and when he noticed the multitude running in curiosity He quickly rebuked the unclean spirit commanding him to come out and enter no more. But even with this command the demon came out kicking and screaming. So violent was the extraction that most on lookers believed the young man was dead, until Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up.

Vs. 28-29 What or Who are you trusting in?

Vs. 28-29 This takes us back to the question as to the rebuke of the disciple’s faithlessness having noted that they exhibited certain qualities we associate with faith: Uninterrupted trust and Expectation of success! What this reveals is that the disciple’s faithlessness is in what their faith had been placed in, namely a process and outcome, instead of Jesus! Their faithlessness was misplaced not absent! They had witnessed Jesus healing multiple times and repeated what they had witnessed and expected the same results. They had transferred their faith from the Person of Jesus to the process of healing and what was left was powerless religion instead of powerful relationship! God’s works when we trust Him not the process or the outcome, those are never our concern and are an ineffective substitute for trusting only in Him. The power resides in His presence who alone acts not in a formula we repeat! This is seen in His given explanation to their question of ineffectiveness in this case when Jesus tells them that “This kind can come out by NOTHING BUT PRAYER AND FASTING.” The best manuscripts omit “and fasting” and it was added much later in an attempt by some translators to suggest a reason other than prayerlessness to explain the failure of the disciple’s. What was Jesus referring to when He made this statement? There is no direct indication that He had engaged in prayer prior to this. Further more in seems inconsistent with the context to suggest that Jesus is correcting the use of formulas by issuing a formula. Instead I believe what Jesus is saying that “this kind” requires continual lifestyle communication with Jesus as one would with their best friend and not on dependence upon a formula.

Mark 9:30-50

“A desire to be first”

1. Introduction
2. Vs. 30-32 Afraid of the answer
3. Vs. 33-36 Servant of all verse served by all
4. Vs. 37-50 Three qualities of greatness

Introduction

As Jesus enters the final 18 months of His life; Mark not only records the events but directed by the Holy Spirit demonstrates the lengths to which Jesus as Son of God would go for those in His kingdom: Namely His death burial and resurrection. Along the way Mark will also answer the question that John stated in his gospel 1:11 but only implied in Mark: “Why didn’t His own people receive Him as the Son of God.” So far we have see two such reasons: Bad theology and the wrong focus of faith. In the section we will be studying yet another reason why people reject His testimony, a faulty view of one’s own importance!

Vs. 30-32 Afraid of the answer

Vs. 30-32 We notice that this story takes place after the disciples had left the foot of Mount Hermon and the scene of the delivered demon possessed young man. The journey is around 30 miles as the crow flies but based upon this passage Jesus took His disciples on the back roads to avoid the crowds. It seems as though the purpose of this was to instruct them further on the details of His death and resurrection. I’m always amazed at the critics as they insist upon saying that Jesus’ death was do to a series events that were beyond His control. Predicting the exact detail of the events 18 months before they happen doesn’t indicate that His death was do to escalating political and religious situations that got out of control. In Jesus’ previous conversations with His Disciples He had mentioned differing aspects about His death each time adding something new:

• He had said that He would suffer many things
• That He would be rejected be the religious elite and establishment
• That He would be murdered
• That after three days He would rise again

But here Jesus adds yet another aspect of His death: That all of the above would be set in motion by His betrayal. What this revealed to His Disciples was that not only was His impending death not accidental it was premeditated by a close friend. I have also noticed that each time Jesus mentions His death, He finishes with words on His resurrection. It is clear that as far as Jesus was concerned that no matter how ghastly and gruesome His murder was; it would not spell His defeat but instead it would usher in His victory. Yet even though He continually wanted His Disciples to understand his death, with each new revelation they became more startled by it while ignoring the resurrection. I maintain that every time Jesus gave a little more information instead of clarifying the upcoming event it left them in greater puzzlement. I can only imagine the disciples hearing this new realization that not only was He going to suffer, be rejected and die but that one of them, His closest friends, was the instigator as they were going to betray Him. Though they didn’t understand this they were afraid to ask Him what it all meant, “Who among Your closest friends; Jesus, would do such a thing?” That’s the question they wanted to ask but were afraid to do so. One may assume that the reason behind their fear was that they would be rebuked but in truth there is not one verse where Jesus rebukes them for asking a question. So what were they afraid of? Well I believe that they were afraid not of Jesus’ response in asking the question but in His answer. Further more I believe that what each of them feared in the answer was that Jesus would say their name. I say this because eighteen months later Jesus will be at a Passover meal with His disciples and again say that one of His closest friends was about to betray Him. It is there in John 13:25 that after each of them looked at each other John said what all were no doubt thinking, “Is it I”? So here 18 months before this they thought it safer to just not to ask Him.

Vs. 33-36 Servant of all verse served by all

Vs. 33-36 Yet with that said I find a very interesting truth with regards to humanity; instead of being confronted by the Lord as to who among them is WORST they found it far better to dispute who among themselves would be the GREATEST! I suggest to you that statement says a lot about the human condition as we tend to avoid the truth so that we can argue a lie! What we see in the remainder of this chapter all centers around Jesus’ answer to this dispute as to who among them would be the greatest. There are several things that must be addressed generally:

• Vs. 33-34 First is the fact that nothing escapes our Lord’s eye’s and ear’s. It is clear that these 12 knew that such a dispute wasn’t something that they were comfortable having in front of the Jesus but they just couldn’t help themselves and did so quietly among themselves so as to not raise His suspicions and obviously failed. I believe that it is a far better tact on the part of us disciples to have an open communication with Jesus about our heart than to be under the mistaken illusion that we can hide our heart from Him, after all He is all knowing!
• Vs. 35 Second, I’m amazed at the response of Jesus in dealing with such prideful hearts; especially in light of the fact that clearly these 12 disciples knew that such a dispute was an embarrassment. Instead of REBUKING them about ever thinking such a thing Jesus INSTRUCTS them on not only “How to accomplish the feat” but “How they would be able to judge they have done so.” God has built into every human heart the desire to succeed and be great and such a desire is a good desire not an evil one. Such ambition only becomes evil when it has CHANGED ITS FOCUS from “BEING A SERVANT OF ALL” to that of “BEING SERVED BY ALL”! Being “served by all” has become the chief way in which the world gauge’s greatness and such ambition has become approved and applauded by people, but not by God. God, sees greatness upon “How many I have served today!” and not in “How many servants I have today!”
• Vs. 36 Finally, the dispute centered upon who would be “the greatest among themselves”. It was an argument as to which of them possessed the superior qualities that establish their preeminence above others; as to make them greater than their fellow man. And as an illustration of what those qualities were Jesus used a prop as “He took a little child and set him in the midst of them.” The gauge of qualities; Jesus said by using this child, all centered how they responded to a child. There are three qualities mentioned in verses 37-48 and in each of them we need to understand had as an illustration a child sitting on Jesus lap in front of them. Greatness is to be measured by how we treat the least and most vulnerable among society. It is this greatness that Jesus wants His disciples to be in pursuit of with such a hunger as one would have if they were in a contest to which only one can win! Why? Because if we make such greatness our aim all of humanity would become better and all the world a picture of His kingdom. William Penn knew of this, he was born to wealth and privilege in 1644, he was aimless in his youth, expelled from Oxford. In his 20’s he heard a sermon from a Quaker preacher that transformed his life and plunged his life into radical Christianity. His activities landed him in jail and at the age of 24 he wrote a book called, “No Cross, No Crown” which was about self denial as the only way to enter into rest and the Kingdom of God. In 1677 Penn sailed with Quaker leader George Fox to America to found a colony named after his late father “Pennsylvania” and a city with a heavenly goal to be a society of Christian love and brotherhood that he named “Philadelphia”. This city he prayed would become the seed of a new nation founded upon being a servant of all. This was the idea found in Jesus’ words here about being the greatest. Saint’s the ideal has not failed but we Christians have failed to maintain the ideal!

Vs. 37-50 Three qualities of greatness

Vs. 37 Here we are given the first of three godly ambitions of greatness: “BE A SERVANT OF ALL”! The important phrase of reference is the motive behind this first action, “In My name”. Having the child on His lap as Jesus said these words made the words all the more impactful as the significance of showing kindness to a little child who to most seems insignificant as to a means to personal greatness. A child can not advance a person’s career, their prestige, they have no influence that would benefit us or advance us in the world’s quest for greatness, they are the opposite. It is the child who must have things done for them. Far too many folks are interested in being “big shots” instead of having “BIG HEARTS” and Jesus say’s “If you want to be a big shot you will have to have a big heart”! When we welcome the poor ordinary person who has no influence, no wealth, no power who can not advance us then we are on the road to greatness. Greatness is measured upon valuing everyone, even the least, as we lavish them with the gifts God as given us to benefit them not ourselves.

Vs. 38-40 Apparently this first illustration was to much for John as he wanted a clarification on the rules of “Being a Servant of all”. At issue with John was, “Who was included in the competition?” The disciples had observed someone engaged in helping the least who wasn’t an immediate part of following of Jesus. So they had stopped the fellow from doing so.  There is nothing more intolerable to us in our competition then a successful rival! And John wanted to win the competition and the first order of business was to get the person successful disqualified! Jesus response was to not forbid the fellow simply because he wasn’t part of their group as he was clearly casting out the demons in “Jesus name”. The fact that it was being done in Jesus name and that it was successful, authenticated the man’s work. God doesn’t respond to anything but faith and this man obviously exhibited faith. “Don’t quench the flame of faith, fan it into a fire”, Jesus said. The application at hand is to quit spending all your time on seeking to disqualify folks from the competition and instead get back to the matter at hand “BEING A SERVANT OF ALL”.

Vs. 41-42 Right on the heals of this Jesus delivers the 2^nd illustration of greatness again with the child still on His lap as we note in verse 42 Jesus “whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to stumble.” The 2^nd sign of the godly ambition of greatness is: A HEART FOR THE HURTING! The slightest act of kindness towards those who are hurting is recognized by the Lord but the flip side of a lack of concern for the hurting is also recognized. Notice the severity in the warning as any moral or spiritual damage done to a young believer is seen as serious as murder. Oh the damage that has been done by those who had power over the vulnerable people in our society. Spiritual greatness is measured upon compassion for those who are hurting.

Vs. 43-50 The final illustration of godly ambition of greatness is: A REALIZATION THAT WE ARE THE WORSE SINNER WE HAVE EVER MET! Did you notice that Jesus brings them back to the one question that they were afraid to ask and it is here used as a sign of greatness! Judgment must always begin with self evaluation instead of blame shifting! With a powerful illustration, Jesus illustrates the seriousness we must take with regards to our own personal failures and sins. A willingness to cut it off, cast it away. This of course is figurative as the problem is not is our sinning foot or eye but in our heart. Jesus’ point is that we are often far more concerned with our neighbor’s feet and eyes than our own. We would all be far more effective for His kingdom if we had the same seriousness for our sins as we have we have for others! 

          Saints we have given by Jesus; three marks of the godly ambition of greatness that we all ought to strive for:

• BE A SERVANT OF ALL
• HAVE A HEART FOR THE HURTING!
• HAVE A REALIZATION THAT WE ARE THE WORSE SINNER WE HAVE EVER MET!

This is a placeholder. Notes will be added