Mark 9 Scripture Reading

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Good morning, church. My name is Abby Frank. I am a 10th grader at Rogaregas High School.

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My name is Andrew Frank. I am a third grader at Sassoon Valley. And today we are going to be reading Mark 9 of verses 1 through 29.

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And he 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. 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, instantly white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses. And they were talking with Jesus. 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. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud. Listen to it. And suddenly looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, he char he charged them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, Why do the scribes say this first, Elijah must come? And he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how it is 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 it to him whatever they pleased, as is written of him. And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were great, greatly amazed, and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, What are you arguing about with them? And someone from the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it sizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked you, disciples, to cast it out, and they were not able. And he answered them, O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me. And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy. And he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, How long has this been happening to him? And he said, From childhood. And it has often casted him into fire and into water to destroy him. And if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, If you can, all things are possible for one who believes. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, I believe, help my unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out. And the voice was like and the and the boy was like a corpse. So that most of them said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could we not cast it out? And he said to them, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.

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This is the word of the Lord.

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Thanks

Welcome And Men’s October Invite

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be to God. That's great. You guys can have a seat. I promise we're going to wrap this up today. I don't know what time though. 29 verses. Welcome to chapter 9. My name is Lawrence, one of the pastors here. It's good to be with you. We're walking verse by verse through the gospel of Mark. We find ourselves in chapter 9. Uh, we're dredging through learning what we're gonna learn today. And I'm gonna share some stuff that I've learned myself or I'm still chewing on. Before we get to that, real quick, just like uh who's a who's a guy in the room? Come on, guys. All right. Who knows a guy? How about this? Everybody, right? Okay. Uh I I felt led to like lead some dudes because I'm a dude on a little journey through October. Uh a lot of you guys got a text about it. Uh most everyone probably got an email about it. But if you want to text that number ignite, uh, I'm gonna send, I'm gonna chew on some stuff myself. My own personal struggles, my victories as a as a guy, as a father, as a son, as a brother, um, as a husband, um, and just like send in the morning a quick little exercise or devotional for just men. Sorry, ladies, we'll do something with you later. Um, but men, I just want to invite you on that journey. So you can text that. You can see that again through the emails, text messages, or there's some handouts there. But let's um go ahead and hop in tomorrow because we got a ton to do. And I gotta see the Broncos win today. We gotta be done by then. Oh, all right, I gotta see the Valkyries win. Does that help? Come on. Okay, some of you guys are there. Um okay, so uh how about this?

When Life Swings Mountain To Valley

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This has to be. Have you ever left somewhere um that was so good that you didn't want it to end? Like a wedding or like a vacation, right? Or an altar moment that felt like heaven, like literally just touched earth for a minute, and you walked out thinking, like, I just want to live there, right? And then Monday came, right? The inbox filled up, the phone rang with news that you weren't ready for. The argument started before you even set the bags down. Like one day you're on a mountain, and then the next you're back in the valley, wondering where God went. Welcome to Mark chapter nine. This is built exactly around this whiplash. And the reason we're doing so much is because these stories actually go together. Last week we looked at Jesus, uh, he looked at his disciples after Peter confessed to him that he was the Christ, and he immediately began talking about the cross instead of a crown. And that was not the Messiah that they were expecting. Like they wanted victory, they wanted Rome overthrown, they wanted the kingdom now and here. And instead, Jesus told them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross. And then he ended with a statement that puzzles the Christians for centuries, and he 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.

Did Jesus Make A Failed Prediction

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Now, if you've ever read that verse and thought, like, wait a minute, Jesus said uh uh, like some of them would see the kingdom before they even died, but now it's been 2,000 years, this was a long time ago, uh, and and they didn't do that. You're not alone. This is uh critics of Christianity have pointed this verse out for generations, claiming that Jesus made a prediction that actually failed. But remember something that we've talked about repeatedly throughout the Gospel of Mark. Context is king. So Mark didn't write chapters and numbers like we have right here. He didn't intend for someone to read, you know, verse one, stop for coffee, come back tomorrow and just begin verse two. This is a continuous story, so you need to read it like that.

Transfiguration As Kingdom Preview

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So Mark immediately then tells us that after six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John and led him to the high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. So did you catch that? Jesus said some standing here would see the kingdom come with power, and six days later, three of them do. See, the transfiguration is not like disconnected from verse one, it's actually the fulfillment of verse one. Peter, James, and John receive a preview of the glory of the kingdom for just a few breathtaking moments. They see Jesus as not merely the carpenter from Nazareth, but as he truly is. Mark says that he was transfigured. The Greek word here is actually metamorpho, which is where we get our word metamorphos. Uh, it means an outward change that reveals an inward reality. And so notice what isn't happening. Jesus isn't becoming something he wasn't before. He isn't just being upgraded, he isn't receiving more divinity. For just one brief moment, the curtain is pulled back. I mean, Jesus has always possessed divine glory, and for a moment the veil comes off. And then Mark describes it this way: his clothes became radiant, intensely white. Uh intensely white. I had to flip the page there, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. I love that. I love Mark, right? Matthew talks about his face shining like the sun. Luke gives us other details. Mark basically says, no laundry detergent on earth could do this. It's such a wonderfully human observation. Mark isn't trying to like write poetry right here. He's saying through Peter's eyes and experience, I've never seen white like that. Sometimes the Bible like intentionally stretches language because ordinary vocabulary just kind of runs out. Have you ever tried describing something like the Grand Canyon? If you've been there, you're trying to describe it to somebody who's never seen it. You're like, it's grand, right? Or standing beside the ocean for the first time, just trying to explain that, or like holding a newborn child for the first time. Eventually you find yourself just saying things like, I don't even know how to explain it. That's what's happening here. Human language is literally reaching its limit. And then things become even stranger.

Why Moses And Elijah Appear

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And there appeared to him with them Elijah, Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Now imagine you're Peter. One second you're hiking, and the next second Jesus is glowing brighter than bleach. Then Moses shows up, then Elijah. At this point, you're probably wondering if you accidentally ate something strange on the hike, right? Like, but also why Moses and Elijah? Because together what they represent, they they literally represent the entire Old Testament. Moses represents the law, Elijah represents like the prophets. And all throughout Jewish history, uh people summarize scripture by saying, the law and the prophets. In other words, everything that came before Jesus is now standing beside Jesus. I mean, think about it. The greatest lawgiver, the greatest prophet standing with Jesus, not above him, not correcting him, not replacing him, talking with him, like everything the Old Testament pointed towards is finding fulfillment in him. It's as though the entire story of Scripture has reached the chapter it's been building towards all along. And there's another fascinating detail. Neither Moses nor Elijah had ordinary endings. Uh, Moses died, but God himself buried him and no one knew where. Elijah uh never died at all. He was taken up into heaven in this like whirlwind. And so Jewish expectation had actually grown that Elijah would return before the Messiah. And so now here he is, like standing beside him. Everything is now coming together, literally, except Peter doesn't know what to do.

Peter Wants To Build Tents

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Which, if you've been reading more carefully, shouldn't surprise us. Says, and Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it's good we're all here, right? Let us make three tents: one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And then Mark adds one of my favorite editorial comments in the gospel, right? For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. I appreciate Peter so much right here because Peter proves one timeless truth. Just because you have something to say doesn't mean you should say it, right? Your mom ever say this to you. If you have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all, right? And what happens? Some of us process internally, others process externally. Peter processes publicly. Like you've ever met someone who just gets nervous and just keeps talking, right? Silence becomes uncomfortable, so words just start coming out before thoughts are fully formed. Peter sees the greatest revelation in human history and says, So, hey, um, I think this is good. We should build something, huh? Yeah. His instinct, though, is on uh it's understandable, right? The during the Feast of Tabernacles, Israelites, they built shelters, um, literally remembering God's presence in the wilderness. And so Peter might be thinking, like, let's stay here. Like, let's preserve this, let's hold this moment forever. And can I be honest? I I understand Peter. Because who doesn't love mountaintop moments? Like those moments when worship feels effortless, when prayer like feels alive, when faith feels obvious, or like God feels incredibly close. We all want to live there. We we leave the retreat saying, I wish life could always be like this, or we come back from camp or somewhere we experience a breakthrough in prayer and a powerful church service or worship service, an answered prayer, a life-changing, miraculous healing, a moment where everything seems clear. And somewhere deep, like really deep inside of us, we think, let's build tents. Like just stay there, like let's never leave. But the problem is mountaintops are wonderful places to experience God, but terrible places to live. Nobody builds cities on mountain peaks, nobody farms there, nobody raises families there. Life happens in the valleys. And God gives mountaintop moments. Not so we escape real life, but so we are strengthened to return to it. Notice what happens next.

The Father’s Command Listen To Jesus

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God interrupts Peter, which honestly happens to Peter fairly often. Says, and a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came of the cloud. This is my beloved son. Listen to him. Now, throughout scripture, the cloud represents God's presence. It's it we see it covered uh Mount Sinai, it filled a tabernacle, it filled Solomon's temple, uh, it led Israel through the wilderness, and now it surrounds Jesus, and the Father speaks. Notice he doesn't say, This is another great teacher, this is another prophet, this is another lawgiver. No, no, no. He says, This is my beloved son. This is a callback to his baptism, whom I love. I'm well pleased. And then he commands this one. This is so good. You parents will love this. Listen to him, right? Not to Moses, not to Elijah, not even Peter's own assumptions. Says, listen to Jesus. This doesn't like diminish Moses or Elijah, it actually elevates Jesus above them. The law was good, the prophets were faithful, but the son stands supreme. The Hebrews opens exactly this way. This is a letter in the New Testament. God spoke through the prophets, but now he has spoken through his son. If you ever wonder how to interpret scripture, start there. Everything points towards Jesus, everything culminates in Jesus, is understood through Jesus. And then just as suddenly as it began, it's over. And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them, but Jesus only. I love those last two words. Jesus only. Moses disappears, Elijah disappears, the dazzling vision ends. But who remains? Jesus. I think there's something profoundly comforting about that. Experience come and go, emotions rise and fall, you know, the retreat ends, the thing, the powerful worship service, the feelings fade, but Jesus remains. Sometimes I think followers of Jesus or Christians spend their lives chasing another mountaintop experience instead of walking faithfully with a Christ who never leaves them. We become addicted to emotional highs, always needing just another thing, another event, another spiritual adrenaline rush, the goosebumps. Meanwhile, Jesus quietly says, psst, I'm still here. Faith, friends, isn't measured by how high you climb, it's measured by whether you continue following him when the mountain disappears. Because that's exactly where Mark's taking us next. The mountain is glorious, but it isn't the destination. Jesus doesn't stay there, and neither do the disciples. They have to walk back down because waiting at the bottom, we are about to see a desperate father, a suffering son, confused disciples, hostile crowds, and another lesson about what real faith actually looks like. The mountain reveals who Jesus is, but the valley will reveal why he came. And if we're honest, most of our lives are lived far closer to the valley than to the summit. Which means what happens next may be even more important than what happened here because Jesus didn't come simply to give some breathtaking moments. He came to meet us in the places where life is actually lived. And that's really important because Christianity has never been about escaping reality. Jesus doesn't establish a monastery on a mountaintop. He doesn't, you know, build a shrine where people can come visit and just relive experience. This is what's so beautiful about him. He walks straight into the ordinary life. In ordinary life, come on, is messy. And then there was a coming down the mountain.

Back To The Valley And Conflict

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He came down and saw that there was uh disciples. He saw a great crowd around them. Scribes were arguing with them, right? Have you ever had one of those moments, parents? Like everything's all good, and then you came around the corner and your kids are going at it, right? Like it almost makes me laugh. Like you got glory on a mountain and then an argument on the bottom. Some things never change. You don't know what they're arguing about yet, but you can probably guess. The disciples right here have failed. Uh, the religious leaders right here saw an opportunity and the crowd gathered because crowds always gather around conflict, right? Welcome back to Earth. This is their moment right here. Have you noticed how often like life works like this? Like you have an incredible Sunday, you leave church inspired, you spend time with God, and then Monday morning, right? By the end, by Monday afternoon, the boss sends you the email, or your child gets sick, or the diagnosis comes back, or the relationship falls apart, the bill arrives, the anxiety returns, you go from mountain to valley, and sometimes in less than 20, 24 hours. Maybe that's where some of you find yourself today. Last week everything felt hopeful, and today you're wondering like, what happened? Like one phone call can move you from celebration to heartbreak, like one conversation, one doctor's appointment, one text message, one knock at the door, like life friends changes so stinking quickly. And Jesus knows that, and that's why he doesn't stay on the mountain. He walks with you and into the valley. And Mark tells us, and immediately, here's another immediately word. All of the crowd when they saw him were greatly amazed, and they ran up to him and greeted him. Everything changes when Jesus arrives. Notice that. The argument doesn't solve itself, the disciples don't suddenly like figure things out, the crowd isn't the answer. These religious experts aren't really the answer Jesus'. And before speaking, he asks a question. He asked them, What are you arguing about? I've always appreciated that. Jesus asks before he assumes. I think healthy leaders do that. I think healthy parents do that. Healthy spouses do that. They don't begin with conclusions, they begin with questions. Then one voice rises above the crowd, and someone from the crowd answers him, Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute.

A Father’s Pain And A Son’s Suffering

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And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and he grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able. Can you hear the disappointment? Like I brought him to you, but you weren't here. So I brought him to your followers, and they couldn't help. Like this father has almost certainly exhausted every option available, every physician, every religious leader, every remedy, every prayer, every hope. Like parents understand something about this. When your child hurts, you hurt. When your child suffers, you would gladly trade places. Look, you can't fix everything. And that helplessness right there is one of the hardest emotions I think a parent or a spouse can experience. Luke, who is a physician himself, tells us too, he gives a little bit more breadth to this, that this is this man's only son, like everything this father has loved was standing in front of him, like suffering. And Jesus responds in a way that initially feels surprising. He answered them, O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me. Now, at first glance, this almost sounds harsh. Like, Jesus, is Jesus frustrated with the Father? I don't think so. Notice he doesn't say, like, oh faithless father. He says, Oh, faithless generation. Like, this isn't aimed at one man, it's aimed at an entire situation, right? Well, why? The disciples have lacked faith, the scribes lacked faith, the crowd has lacked faith. Generation after generation had witnessed God's power and yet continued to refuse to trust him. This echoes the wilderness generation, the Old Testament. God parts the Red Sea, provides manna, leads them with a cloud and a fire, and still they doubted, right? I mean, pick your own story. Humanity has an astonishing ability to forget what God has already done. And if we're honest, we are not much different, right? We pray for something desperately. God answers, we celebrate, then two weeks later, another crisis arrives and we start acting like he's never been faithful before. Our memories are remarkably short. And Jesus says, I love this, bring them to me. I think that's still our invitation today. Bring your anxiety, your addiction, your marriage, your grief, your questions, your disappointment. Bring your child, your shame, your unbelief. Bring him to me, he says. Mark continues. And he brought the boy to him. The spirit saw him immediately convulsed, and the boy fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. Don't miss this. The situation actually gets worse before it gets better. You see that? Sometimes people just assume when Jesus enters the situation, everything immediately just becomes easy. Not always. Sometimes darkness fights hardest precisely because its defeat is near. Jesus doesn't panic, he just asks another question. And so we ask this father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, From childhood. Why ask? Doesn't he already know? Like, of course he did. Again, this

Honest Faith In A Hard Question

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is another situation. Jesus isn't gathering information. He's actually inviting the father to tell his story. I think one of the most loving things you can do for another person is just simply allow them to tell their story. Not to interrupt, not to fix, not to compare. Just listen. Not just to wait to be like, oh yeah, me too, me too, me too. And so the father continues. He said from childhood and has often cast him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Did you notice the wording? If you can like that's not arrogance. I hear that as exhaustion. Years of disappointment slowly eroded hope. He's been let down so many times that even asking feels risky. Maybe you've prayed like that. God, if you can, if you're willing, if you're listening, if there's anything you can do, and Jesus gently responds, if you can, all things are possible for one who believes. Now, this verse has often been misunderstood. Jesus is not saying that if you just simply believe hard enough, you'll always get exactly what you want. That's not what the Bible teaches. Faith is not just positive thinking, it's not manifestation. Faith isn't pretending reality doesn't exist. Faith is confidence in the character and the power of God, not confidence in ourselves and what we're trying to achieve through this faith. The object of faith matters more than the amount of faith. I could have enormous faith that I could right now flap my arms and fly off of this stage. My sincerity won't change gravity, right? And whoever's catching me in the front row, right? It's not the size of your faith that changes things, it's the one your faith is placed in, which leads us to what I believe is one of the most honest prayers in all of Scripture.

I Believe Help My Unbelief

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Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, I believe. Help my unbelief. Isn't that beautiful? He doesn't fake certainty. He doesn't pretend to have like stronger faith in what he does. He just tells Jesus Jesus the truth. He says, I believe, just I don't believe enough. Like parts of me trust you, like parts of me is terrified, parts of me hopes, but parts of me wonder if this is just going to be another disappointment. And I think that's where many of us actually live, not in perfect certainty, but not in complete unbelief, like, but just somewhere in between, like faith and doubt occupying the same heart. And here's the incredible news Jesus doesn't reject him. He doesn't say, come back when your faith reaches like 98%, right? He meets them right there, and that should encourage every single person in this room who has ever wondered if your questions disqualify you. They don't. Your doubts don't scare him, your honesty doesn't offend him. He would rather have an honest prayer than a polished performance. And so he continues When Jesus saw that the crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You mutant deaf spirit, I command you to come out of him and never enter again. Notice the authority. No ritual, no incantation, like no struggle, just a command. Like throughout Mark, we've watched demons recognize something that people often miss here. They know exactly who Jesus is, because darkness always recognizes the true King. And after crying out, after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out. And the boy was like a corpse. So it came, uh that most of them then said he's dead. But Jesus, he took him by the hand and he arose. What a picture. So the crowd assumes that the story is actually over. Jesus reaches out, takes him by the hand, and then raises him up. Mark here is intentionally using resurrection language, like as a preview. The one who lifts this boy will soon be laid in a tune himself, and three days later, the father will take him by the hand, so to speak, and raise him in victory over sin, death, and hell.

Why Prayer Matters In Spiritual Battles

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And finally, after the crowds leave, the disciples ask the question everyone has been wondering. They entered the house and asked him, probably, why couldn't we cast it out? And he said to them, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. And some of your translations say prayer and fasting. I think that's an honest question, especially because earlier in Mark, Jesus had actually already given them authority over unclean spirits. So what changed? And so he answers them. He said to him, Can't be driven by anything but prayer. Like I said, sometimes it says in fasting. The earliest uh manuscripts simply just read prayer, but why prayer? Uh because prayer is dependence. The disciples had apparently begun relying on yesterday's victories instead of today's relationship with Jesus. Ministry had become a technique instead of a dependence. Like they had authority, but they forgot the source of their authority. We're capable of doing the exact same thing. Churches can trust programs, pastors can trust experience, leaders can trust strategy, Christians can trust habits. None of those are bad, but they are useless substitutes for dependence on Christ. And prayer is the ongoing confession that we cannot do in our own strength what God, only God, can accomplish. That's the lesson of the valley. The mountain revealed Jesus' glory. The valley revealed our need. The mountain on the mountain, the Father said, Listen to him in the valley. Jesus shows us why. Because when your child is hurting, when your marriage is struggling, when your addiction won't let you go, when your heart is breaking, when your faith feels mixed with doubt, there is still only one place to go. Bring it to Jesus. The mountain gave the disciples a glimpse of who he is, and the valley taught them why that matters, because the glory that they witnessed on the mountain is the very power that walks into the deepest valleys of our lives. And instead of avoiding our brokenness, Jesus reaches down, takes us by the hand, and rises us to our feet.

Bring It To Jesus Closing Prayer

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So this week, when the mountain fades and the valley shows up again, anyway, when your child is hurting, or you feel like you've run out of ideas, when your faith and your doubt are sharing the same sentence, when the news comes back that you weren't ready for, ask yourself one question. Have I actually brought this to Jesus or have I just been carrying it myself and calling it faith? Don't answer that right now. Let that follow you into the employment, the argument, the sleepless night. Bring it to Jesus. Let me pray for all of us. Help us with our unbelief, Father. Help us actually bring it to you. Lord, thank you for being present with us in the valley. Lord, make yourself known in beautiful, tangible ways. And then give us eyes to see and ears to hear the people that you've sent into our lives, the the little moments that are just a whisper that we would pause, stop, and it would help with our unbelief. I know so many of us are so desperate for you. Would you meet us in that place? In your name we pray. Amen.