ATTENTION: Please note that this Sunday School Lesson, This Is My Beloved on Mark 9:2-13 is for the 2-13-11International Sunday School Lesson. You will find the 2-6-11 lesson, Jesus Is the Messiah, directly beneath this message and on the right side.
Jed
This Is My Beloved
Mark 9:2-13
International Sunday School Lesson
February 13, 2011
Commentary
By
Jed Greenough
Mark 9:2-13
The 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.
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.)
7 Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
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.
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? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”
I will be frank with you, this passage has always left me with more questions than answers and I jokingly considered posting, “The Adult Sunday School blog is on holiday and will return next week.”
Maybe what I should do is post all the questions I have and leave it at that!
Question 1: Why did Jesus choose to take Peter, James and John and not the rest of the disciples?
Question 2: What was the necessity for this transfiguration?
Question 3: How was it known that it was Elijah and Moses that were appearing there with Jesus?
Question 4: Did Jesus actually need to discuss something with Moses and Elijah or they with him?
Question 5: I know that Peter was flummoxed, but why not just one shelter for the three of them?
Question 6: These 3 were devoted disciples of Jesus weren’t they already listening to Him, so why did God choose to tell them to listen to Jesus?
Question 7: Why was the duration of the event seemingly so short?
Question 8: We discussed last week why Jesus wouldn’t want everyone to know certain aspects concerning Himself so that everyone did not begin to think He was the Messiah, but why could they not tell anyone including the other disciples what they had seen?
Question 9: Is there any mistranslation in verse 12 to say, “restores all things”?
Sometimes asking ourselves questions, even putting them down on “paper” helps us to come to some conclusions better than just letting them bounce around in our head. Today, though, I have to come to the conclusion that for the most part the best I can do is make assumptions.
I will have to assume that these same three: Peter, James and John who we later see with Jesus at Gethsemane served an extra special place as leaders and perhaps Jesus’ closest friends, that they needed to see this. They were probably the strongest leaders and personalities but what they would soon be going through would have only helped them in seeing Jesus in this manner.
It seems doubtful to me that Jesus needed the discussion with Moses and Elijah for Himself but rather for the three and I think that the brevity of it and God’s appearance speaking to them in the cloud bear out that this was done for them.
Do we need to know why it was known that this was Moses and Elijah? No, but it certainly makes us curious. Maybe that part just wasn’t included in the scriptures or maybe it was communicated to them supernaturally.
What I don’t have to assume is that these three leaders, these three friends are rejoining their compatriots with an unspeakable bond that they three alone share. They go back with an image of a glorified Jesus, the voice of God resonating in their ears and a picture of prophecy understood in the suffering and death but also the arising from the dead of their Jesus.
For Discussion:
1. Mount Tabor or Mount Hermon?
2. Read, compare, and discuss Matthew 17:1, Mark 9:2, and Luke 9:28.
3. Mark 5:37
4. Discuss how you think they knew Jesus was talking to Moses and Elijah.
5. Luke 9:31 tells us something about the discussion but discuss the why’s.
6. Discuss why these two?
7. 2 Peter 1:16-18
(Join me next week for the International Sunday School Lesson for February 20, 2011, Jesus Came to Serve, on Mark 10:35-45)
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
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