I can imagine Peter is reeling from the revelation that the Messiah (Jesus) would die soon. I see the conversation on the Mount of Transfiguration in that context – especially the part where God the Father rebukes Peter… “This is my Son… LISTEN to Him!”

The Youtube link is below:

Mark 9:1-13… What do I REALLY know?

The audio links to iTunes and Spotify are to the right.

Here is the transcript used for today’s podcast:

Mark 9

What do I REALLY know?

1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

The coming of the kingdom “with power” would seem to be associated with Jesus’ resurrection since it will be witnessed by “some standing here,” and it is also described as a coming “in power”

The Transfiguration, which follows this utterance, is an intermediate and immediate fulfillment of Jesus’ words, since it anticipates the manifestation of resurrection power and divine glory.

Sproul, R. C. (2015). ESV Reformation Study Bible. Ligonier Ministries

 

 

This statement, like the ones that follow, demonstrate how little the disciples really knew. It appears to say one thing…  but in fact means another.

In fact the “some” referred to here are Peter, James, and John who are about to witness the power of the coming Kingdom on the Mount of Transfiguration.

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

The Transfiguration ties the old covenant to the new, directly linking Moses and Elijah, representatives of the law and the prophets, with Jesus and His apostles, messengers of redemption’s completion.

Sproul, R. C. (2015). ESV Reformation Study Bible. Ligonier Ministries

 

 

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 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

Good old Peter – not content with space, he fills the space with words, not thought out words… just the first thing that comes to mind. Perhaps he was thinking that if Moses and Elijah were going to be around with Jesus, they should build shelters for them? This statement does not have to make sense, because Peter didn’t know what to say, so he just blathered out some words. 

7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

Peter and the others had just been blindsided with the knowledge that Jesus had to die. I can see Peter wrestling with this truth. In my imagination I hear God emphasizing certain words when He speaks – not to Jesus, but to Peter James and John – 

“This IS my Son, Whom I love. LISTEN to HIM!!!!”

I hear a certain urgency in these words. This is a rebuke to Peter, as the one thing the disciples … especially Peter…NEED to know beyond any shadow of doubt is that Jesus is more than a wise Rabbi, a great teacher, or even a miracle worker. He IS the Son … of God. Implied is the thought that Jesus’ death IS part of the plan of God, and this revolutionary (to the disciples) concept of a suffering Messiah is to be embraced, not argued against, as Peter had just done when he tried to rebuke Jesus for even mentioning His upcoming death.

8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.

My initial response upon reading this was…”Really? How thick can you be?”

But there is a legitimate reason they would be wondering about this and it comes from the accepted Jewish teaching that there would be a general resurrection (of Jewish believers) in the last days. This new idea (to them) of an individual resurrection of a dead Messiah was an entirely new thing.

11 And they asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

12 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 

Though John the Baptist is not personally Elijah risen from the dead (6:14–16; cf. John 1:21), Jesus teaches that Elijah was indeed the Old Testament type who prefigured the Baptist’s ministry (cf. Luke 1:17).

Sproul, R. C. (2015). ESV Reformation Study Bible. Ligonier Ministries

 

 

13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”

Just as Elijah suffered at the hands of Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kin. 19:1–10), so John suffered at the hands of Herod and Herodias (6:18 note). If John, who restored all things by calling the people of God to repentance and godliness, was put to death, should it be surprising (v. 12) that the Son of Man faces the same lot?

Sproul, R. C. (2015). ESV Reformation Study Bible. Ligonier Ministries

This discussion between Jesus and His Disciples demonstrates (to me) the hardest thing about being a follower of Christ- the realization that we really don’t have a great grasp on God’s Will and His plans. The Disciples (and the teachers of the Law) thought they understood how things were going to work. Elijah would come back, restore all things and the Messiah would rule as King. It’s as if Jesus was saying – “Elijah is a type and picture of John the Baptist, and John the Baptist is a type and picture of Elijah the Prophet.” Peter, James, and John apparently also did not realize that in their interactions with Jesus, Moses and Elijah they had indeed witnessed the fact Elijah HAD come first. However it didn’t happen the way they thought it would… but… it DID happen.

This gives me pause to stop and ask myself how many of the things I think I know about God are off-center? How incomplete are my ideas and thoughts about Him? Even with the fact that I read His words every day (almost), and that I study to learn more about Who He is and what He wants for me, there remains this truth… I am an infinitely tiny speck in a huge universe. For all I think I know, there is an infinite supply of things I don’t know.. about God, about the universe, about me. There is a sense of humility that floods over me when I realize that even as I laugh at the supposed ignorance and thick-headedness of the disciples, I am no different. I think I know things. I think I understand things. In relation to all there IS to know and understand about God and His ways, I actually know very little.

The danger in this revelatory (to me) knowledge is that I might become mired in fact that I know so little that I end up doing nothing with and in my life. 

Here is how I deal with that. Realizing that I do not know everything and that my understanding of God and His ways are murky at best (like Paul says when he wrote in 1 Corinthians “… we see through a glass, darkly…”), I also realize that there are SOME things I DO know that are not up for debate.

1. Jesus is the Way truth and Life. No one comes to the Father but by Him.
2. I am to love God, and love my neighbor. Those two pursuits are enough to occupy my attention for the rest of my days.

I indeed know very little about many things. But what I DO know is enough.

In His Grip,

Paige