Mark 9 — This Is My Beloved Son

Today’s Passage: Mark 9

Six days after Peter confessed Him as the Christ, Jesus takes three of His disciples up a high mountain, and there they see the same familiar Son unveiled before them. This is no costume He puts on and no story that quietly undoes His becoming flesh; it is His own glory shining out through clothes made whiter than anything on earth could bleach them. Moses and Elijah stand and speak with Him, and out of a cloud the Father’s own voice says, This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him. Then they come back down the mountain into a father’s desperate cry for his son, a second word about the suffering that is coming, and a group of disciples still quietly arguing about which of them is the greatest. The mountain and the valley, the glory and the cross, turn out to be one single command.

As you read, hold this: This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him.

Mark 9:1–8 (BSB)

¹ Then Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God arrive with power.” ² After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. ³ His clothes became radiantly white, brighter than any launderer on earth could bleach them. ⁴ And Elijah and Moses appeared before them, talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For they were all so terrified that Peter did not know what else to say. ⁷ Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him!” ⁸ Suddenly, when they looked around, they saw no one with them except Jesus.

The promise of verse 1 is best read together with what comes right after it. Some standing there, Jesus says, will see the kingdom of God come with power, and within the week three of them do. He is transfigured (μεταμορφόω) metamorphoō, pronounced meh-tah-mor-FO-oh. Strong's G3339, to be transformed, change form. Mark is not describing some borrowed glow laid over Jesus from outside. The veil of His ordinary appearance is drawn back for a moment, and the disciples see the glory that has belonged to the Son all along, the same Jesus who will walk back down into the valley and on toward a cross. Here one of our settled convictions holds firm, that He is fully God and fully man, the two natures joined in one Person. The mountain does not undo His flesh or turn it into something less than real. It simply shows us whose flesh this is. , changed in form before their eyes, His clothes shining beyond anything earth could whiten. Moses and Elijah stand and talk with Him, drawn into the conversation of the ages. Peter’s offer of three shelters sounds devout, and it misses the point entirely, for it sets Jesus among the great ones as though the three of them were peers to be housed side by side under canvas. Then the cloud comes and the voice speaks: This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him! And when the vision lifts, only Jesus is left. That is the whole work of the mountain. The Law and the Prophets do their pointing, and the Son remains, and the one thing left for a disciple to do is to listen to Him.

Mark 9:9–13 (BSB)

⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus admonished them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰ So they kept this matter to themselves, discussing what it meant to rise from the dead. ¹¹ And they asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ¹² He replied, “Elijah does indeed come first, and he restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected? ¹³ But I tell you that Elijah has indeed come, and they have done to him whatever they wished, just as it is written about him.”

Jesus tells them to keep silent until the resurrection, for glory spoken of apart from the cross would only be misunderstood. They keep it to themselves, still puzzling among themselves over what rising from the dead could mean. Their question about Elijah is a fair one, and Jesus answers it by tying their hope of restoration to the hard word about the Son of Man’s suffering. John has already come in the spirit and role of Elijah, and he has already been mistreated; the rejected forerunner goes ahead of the rejected Son. The light of the mountain does not erase a single line of the scroll. It only shows whose feet will walk that written path. Listen to Him, even when the word He speaks is about His own death.

Mark 9:14–29 (BSB)

¹⁴ When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were filled with awe and ran to greet Him. ¹⁶ “What are you disputing with them?” He asked. ¹⁷ Someone in the crowd replied, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a spirit that makes him mute. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.” ¹⁹ “O unbelieving generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to Me.” ²⁰ So they brought him, and seeing Jesus, the spirit immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. ²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been with him?” “From childhood,” he said. ²² “It often throws him into the fire or into the water, trying to kill him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” ²³ “If You can?” echoed Jesus. “All things are possible to him who believes!” ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” ²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, He rebuked the unclean spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” He said, “I command you to come out and never enter him again.” ²⁶ After shrieking and convulsing him violently, the spirit came out. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He is dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up. ²⁸ After Jesus had gone indoors, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

From the light of the mountain they come down into argument, failure, and a father’s long ordeal. The disciples’ inability to help is out in the open, and the scribes are only too ready to make something of it. Jesus grieves aloud over an unbelieving generation, and then, gently, He says, Bring the boy to Me. When the father says, “if You can,” Jesus turns the words back on him, for the real question was never whether Jesus has the power. Then comes the cry that has comforted countless souls ever since, belief and unbelief spoken in a single breath. Jesus does not crush the honest man who confesses the mixture in his own heart; He simply commands the spirit to go. The exit is violent, the boy is left looking like a corpse, and Jesus lifts him up by the hand and sets him on his feet. Afterward, in private, the lesson He gives is prayer, the posture of dependence rather than any technique. Listening to the Son down in the valley sounds like this: I do believe; help my unbelief.

Mark 9:30–37 (BSB)

³⁰ Going on from there, they passed through Galilee. But Jesus did not want anyone to know, ³¹ because He was teaching His disciples. He told them, “The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after three days He will rise.” ³² But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him about it. ³³ Then they came to Capernaum. While Jesus was in the house, He asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴ But they were silent, for on the way they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. ³⁵ Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all.” ³⁶ Then He had a little child stand among them. Taking the child in His arms, He said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me, and whoever welcomes Me welcomes not only Me, but the One who sent Me.”

For the second time Jesus tells them plainly what is coming: the Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and killed, and after three days He will rise. They do not understand it, and they are too afraid to ask. Then comes a silence of pure embarrassment, for while He was speaking of being killed, they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. Jesus sits down, taking the posture of a teacher, and turns their whole reckoning upside down. To be first is to be last of all; to be great is to be the servant of all. Then He takes a little child into His arms and tells them that whoever welcomes one such child in His name welcomes Him, and welcomes the Father who sent Him. They had wanted a place of honor, and He hands them a child instead. Listen to Him. The voice on the mountain never once said, measure yourselves against one another.

Mark 9:38–50 (BSB)

³⁸ John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not accompany us.” ³⁹ “Do not stop him,” Jesus replied. “For no one who performs a miracle in My name can turn around soon after to speak evil of Me. ⁴⁰ For whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹ Indeed, if anyone gives you even a cup of water because you bear the name of Christ, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward. ⁴² But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea. ⁴³ If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. ⁴⁵ If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷ And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸ where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.’ ⁴⁹ For everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ Salt is good, but if the salt loses its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

John’s report sounds loyal, but underneath it lies a possessiveness, a complaint that the man was “not with us.” Jesus will not treat His name as something His disciples own and license out to a chosen few. Works done in His name are not the enemy, and even a cup of water given to someone because he belongs to Christ does not go unseen. Then His tone turns severe. To cause one of these little ones who believe to stumble is a guilt beyond measure. Hand, foot, or eye, whatever it is that leads a person into sin, is worth losing compared to the life that is at stake. He is not prescribing that anyone maim his own body; He is demanding that His disciples treat the ruin of faith as the deadly serious thing it is. Salt that has gone flat is of no use to anyone. And peace with one another is exactly what listening to Him looks like in a house that has spent the day arguing about rank.