"This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”

Mark 9:1-13

One can only imagine the question that enters into the minds of the twelve disciples, when Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”  Jesus said this six days before His transfiguration, and is believed Peters confession of Jesus as the Christ. 

When Jesus was transfigured Peter, James, and John were the only disciples Jesus took upon the mountain; they were the only ones that experienced the transfiguration.  This is Mark’s account of what took place on the mountain.  ^“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.  And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.”

I often believe the apostle Peter gets bad press from many of us about his quickness to speak.  Put yourself in the picture, what are you going to do, that’s a great question?  We do understand they were terrified, read the account and think about what you would have done in Peters place.   ^“And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.”

But God, how I love that statement, the Father had a word for these three; “And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”  And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.  Jesus no longer is transfigured, and no one but the four of them is standing there, and as they are coming down the mountain, Jesus has some commands for the three disciples.  “And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰ So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.”  Did you get that is the only time Jesus put a timeline of when the disciples could share what they had witnessed, after His death and when He has risen?  But they had so many questions about what this rising from the dead might mean?

^“ And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?”  And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?  But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”  It seems as if John the Baptist came in a like spirit as Elijah and his treatment was an example of what they would do to Jesus.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice