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The Gospel of Mark
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BIBLE STUDY MARK 9:1-50 REVIEW: Chapter 8 began with an account of Jesus’ feeding of FOUR thousand people. This is a “parallel story” of his feeding of the FIVE thousand in chapter 6 (vs. 35-44). The one essential difference between the two stories is that the four thousand people are most probably Gentiles rather than Jews. Therefore, this feeding of the four thousand serves to show that Jesus’ spirit – his character and impact upon people – is the same among Gentiles as among Jews. The next section dealt with the Pharisees asking Jesus for a sign from heaven. Signs by themselves, however, will never convince people. Only FAITH is able to perceive that God is working through Jesus. If they do not have faith, no amount of “miracle working” by Jesus would ever serve as sufficient “proof” that he is indeed of God. That is why he tells them that “no sign will be given to this generation.” This importance of faith versus signs is further emphasized by the next section when the disciples are worrying about food even though they had witnessed the miracles of his feeding five thousand people from five loaves of bread and four thousand people from seven loaves of bread. Without faith, they are “blind” to what those “signs” mean. The next section is about Jesus’ healing of a blind man. Perhaps Mark recounts this as a way of showing that physical blindness is easier to cure than spiritual blindness such as was manifested by the Pharisees and even his own disciples. The final sections are about who Jesus is. Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah. Many people at the time of Jesus believed that the Messiah would be a future Davidic king “who would restore justice and the good fortunes of God’s people.” For that reason, Jesus “sternly ordered” his disciples not to tell anyone about him. Even Peter and the other disciples obviously failed to understand the true nature of Jesus’ Messiahship. Peter contradicts Jesus when he tells them about “being rejected and killed” – and Jesus in reply shows that this contradiction is yet another test or temptation from Satan to try to dissuade him from following God’s path. Finally, Jesus calls upon his followers to “deny themselves and take up their cross”. Only when we give up trying to do things our own way and instead let God’s will be our guide (even when that may be costly or hard) are we then truly letting him be our Messiah. CHAPTER 9:1-8 “The Transfiguration” “And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.” Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them, Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.” In Scripture, a mountain is almost always viewed as being a place where God reveals himself to humans – and so it is in the account of Jesus’ transfiguration. The description of Jesus’ shining and the cloud are reminiscent of the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night in the Exodus story (Ex. 13:21) – and serves to show that through Jesus, God is truly present. The uniqueness of Jesus is further emphasized by the appearance of Elijah with Moses. Elijah traditionally represented all of the prophets, and it was also believed that he would appear as a forerunner of the Messiah. Moses of course was viewed as representing the LAW (Torah) that God gave to Israel on Mount Sinai. Peter’s suggestion of making three dwellings for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah was probably inspired by the Jewish festival of booths (Lev. 23:39-43). Through doing this, perhaps Peter thought that he could thereby prolong this moment of glory. Mark mentions that “he did not know what to say” – yet another example of his and the others’ failure to understand what was happening before their own eyes (as was also true of their failure to understand the significance of the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand (Mk. 8:14-21). Finally, the words of the voice from the cloud are similar to what was spoken to Jesus from the cloud at his baptism (Mk. 1:11). The words are from Psalm 2:7 – and were understood to be a prophecy about the Messiah. But perhaps the main point is the command for the disciples to “listen to him!” To me (Pastor George), the impact of this command is emphasized when Mark notes that suddenly when (the disciples) looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. Through this, Mark is emphasizing the complete sufficiency of listening to JESUS in order to fully know God’s message. Jesus is the complete fulfillment of “Elijah” (prophecy) and “Moses” (the law). CHAPTER 9:9-13 “The Coming of Elijah”“As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He said to them, “Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings 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 about him.” Jesus orders Peter, James, and John to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Why? Jesus knew that if they told people about his transfiguration, it would only stoke their expectations that he was the kind of Messiah whom they wanted – a Messiah of glory and power. Jesus, on the other hand, was trying to show people that his Messiahship involved suffering and even death – and only afterwards a resurrection to glory (Mk. 8:31). This was a concept that most people, including the disciples, could not grasp. The idea that the Messiah would have to die was utterly foreign to what they had ever thought. This then gave rise to another question. Even though they were struggling to understand Jesus’ concept of Messiahship, the three disciples were convinced that he indeed was the Messiah. They had been taught (and Jews still believe) that before the Messiah came, the prophet Elijah would come as his herald and forerunner. “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.” (Mal. 4:5-6) In addition to this scripture passage, they were also a number of other rabbinic traditions about Elijah’s appearing to get people ready for the Messiah. So the three disciples naturally wondered – if Jesus was the Messiah, then what has happened to Elijah? Jesus reinterprets their understanding by implying that Elijah has already come in the person of John the Baptist. If that is so, then he truly was the Messiah’s forerunner in that his fate (his beheading by Herod at the instigation of Herodias – just like Jezebel tried to get King Ahab to kill Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-2)) foreshadowed what would happen to the Messiah! In a way, Jesus is saying: “If people reject and kill the Messiah’s forerunner, then even more surely will they also reject and kill the Messiah himself!” Be that as it may, after his very human expression of frustration, Jesus then turns to dealing with the situation at hand – that here was a person in need of healing. In his conversation with the boy’s father, Jesus emphasizes the importance of faith in order for the demon to be cast out. The father’s cry of “I believe, help my unbelief!” is descriptive of most of us! He had some faith in that he brought his child to Jesus for healing, but he also knew that it needed to grow more. Jesus then used the father’s faith – as little as it was – to heal the boy. The father at least knew his need and WHO to ask for help, and that was enough for Jesus to perform his miracle. The only ones that Jesus cannot help are those who firm in their unbelief (see Mk. 6:5-6). The imagery of the child becoming like a corpse and appearing dead, and then Jesus taking him by the hand and lifting him up so that he could stand suggests death and then resurrection. In a way, it is an allusion to what Jesus has been telling his disciples about what will happen to himself. Finally, afterwards the disciples ask Jesus why they had failed. His answer about the necessity of prayer may have been a rebuke to them. Perhaps they had become “burned out” and their ministry had become “mechanical” and “ritualistic”. This often happens to many Christians, including certainly many pastors. When ministry becomes just a “job” and people in need become simply “cases”, then we are no longer filled with God’s power and love and thus we can no longer do God’s work. Only constant communication with God through PRAYER can keep this from happening. CHAPTER 9:30-32 “Jesus’ Second Prediction of his Passion”“They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” This is the second Jesus’ three predictions of his Passion (Mk. 8:31, Mk. 9:31-32, and Mk. 10:33-34). Note that one essential addition to this second prediction is “he will be betrayed into human hands.” Somehow, he knew that one of his own friends would be responsible for his suffering and death. The point that the disciples seem to consistently miss is Jesus’ prediction of his rising again (see Mk 8:31, Mk. 9:30-31). Perhaps it is because this can happen only after his suffering and death – and that is what they do NOT want to believe will happen to Jesus. It was not that the disciples “did not understand” what Jesus was saying, but rather that they did not want to understand! That is also why they were afraid to ask him any more questions about the subject – because they knew that they would not like his answers! William Barclay writes in his Daily Study Bible commentary: “Sometime we are amazed that the disciples) did not grasp what was so plainly spoken. The human mind has an amazing faculty for rejecting what it does not wish to see. Are we so very different? Over and over again we have heard the Christian message…but people still accept the parts of the Christian message which they like and which suit them, and refuse to understand the rest.” CHAPTER 9:33-37 “The Question of Greatness” “Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” William Barclay writes: “Nothing so well shows how far the disciples were from realizing the real meaning of Jesus’ Messiahship as this does. Repeatedly he had told them what awaited him in Jerusalem, and yet they were still thinking of his Kingdom in earthly terms and of themselves as his chief ministers of state.” Yet the disciples also knew that this kind of discussion was wrong. Their silence was the silence of shame. They knew that they were “busted”! We Christians often do the same thing – even in the church. Jesus took a child, not to demonstrate his or her “child-like” qualities of faith – but rather because a child was a total “non-entity” in first century culture. Jesus identifies himself as being like that child as far as his ambition is concerned, and calls upon his disciples to do likewise. True greatness in his kingdom comes from being willing to give up one’s personal ambitions and instead see oneself as being the servant of everyone else. Jesus also calls upon his disciples to welcome and be concerned for those who do not possess “greatness” or social standing – for they are the true “great ones” in his kingdom. CHAPTER 9:38-41 “A Lesson in Tolerance” “John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will be no means lose the reward.” Here is another example of the disciples’ desire to claim special privilege because of their associate with Jesus. Instead of being glad that people were being delivered from demonic possession, John was concerned that the exorcist did not have the proper “credentials”! (Perhaps he was also still ashamed and “miffed” about their earlier failure to heal the demon-possessed boy in Mk. 9:14-29.) In reply, Jesus tells them not to be concerned about who is doing good works or about his or her “credentials” – but simply to rejoice that work of God is being done! And even if that “unauthorized” person did not intend it, Jesus’ name is being magnified. St. Paul later in his letter to the Philippians writes about a similar situation: “Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but other from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice.” (Phil. 1:15-18) So long as Christ’s work is being done and his name is being proclaimed, it is not up to us to judge the motives of a person – that is GOD’S job! Every good work, whoever does it (and for whatever reason it is done), will be recognized by God and should be praised by us. CHAPTER 9:42-50 “Warnings Against Hurting the Faith of Others” “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” This passage builds on the previous one about John being upset with the “unauthorized” person who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name. It is very likely that he and the other disciples had admonished that person to stop doing this. It is also possible that the unknown exorcist was hurt by their admonitions – he had thought that he was doing a good thing, and now Jesus’ representatives were rebuking him. Obviously, this would have been a source of hurt and embarrassment to him. In many ways – often because we are trying to guard our own power and prestige (even though we may rationalize it otherwise) – we will “put down” what others are doing, and thus become “stumbling blocks” to their faith in Jesus. Jesus in this passage warns us that anything that causes us to be “stumbling blocks” to others, or causes US to “stumble” in our faith is a very serious offense. The “stumbling blocks” of pride and self-interest keep us from serving others and from having a right relationship with each other and with God. We need to focus on getting rid of those qualities in our lives – even if that is as painful as losing a hand, foot, or an eye. Focusing on “losing” those qualities is part of “denying ourselves and taking up our cross” that Jesus talks about in Mk. 8:34-35. The final part of this passage consists of three separate “salt” sayings that have been compiled by Mark. The first saying is a reference to the role of salt in sacrifices (Lev. 2:13b) – “…with all your offerings you shall offer salt.” Salt “seasons” the sacrifice or offering and makes it acceptable to God. In the same way, the “salt” of our attitudes is what makes any of our good works acceptable in God’s sight. The second “salt” saying is perhaps a reference to persecutions – that we must be ready to suffer slander or worse for our faith and service in Jesus’ name. The third and final “salt” saying is a reference to the need for purity in our attitudes and lives. Salt was used as a preservative, but sometimes it could become so contaminated or diluted that it was useless for that purpose. It has then “lost its saltiness”. But when we remember who Christ has called us to be – people of humility, faith, and love – then we will be at peace with one another AND will also “season” the world. So may it be for us! -------------------- George R. Karres, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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