Are you ready for another devotion as we continue in the book of Mark?!

Let’s begin. Start with a prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what he wants to show you.

Read Mark 9:1-13 in your Bible. As you are reading, ask the questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how as well as any repeated words or phrases. We’ll go through these together. Don’t forget to look for that verse(s) that stand out to you the most. The one that grabs your attention.

Now let’s go through these questions together.

Who? Who is speaking, who is being mentioned? We have the man of the hour, Jesus. Then we have Peter, James, John, Elijah, Moses, and God the Father

When? So verse 1is a continuation of Jesus speaking to the crowd from Chapter 8:34-38. And what follows took place 6 days later.

Where? All we are told here is that they went up the mountain.

What? What is happening in these verses? This is an interesting part of the Jesus’ story. Because we have an unusual event taking place. Let’s recap. Oh by the way, the reason you always want to recap what you read is to make sure you understand what is happening, thus the summary of what we read. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain where they experience Jesus being transformed into something glorious. Then they witness Jesus having a conversation with Elijah and Moses, which is followed by a cloud and the voice of God telling Peter, James, and John that Jesus is his son and they are to listen to him. Immediately, Elijah and Moses are gone. Jesus, Peter, James, and John begin their decent with a conversation about Elijah’s coming.

Why? Why is this being mentioned? Why is this/will be happening? In reading these verses, we are once again being told that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. But this also happened to show the disciples that Jesus is who he said he is. Had Jesus not taken the three disciples with him, there would not have been any eye witness accounts of what took place on that mountain.

How does this happen/take place? An event like this is already hard to believe, so having three witnesses to confirm this event is helpful for all of us to believe. So this is happening because we are listening to the story, probably from Peter, of what took place on that mountain.

The only repeated words/phrases I found were mostly the names of Jesus, Elijah and Moses, so the focus is definitely on this event.

Before we continue any further, what verse(s) stood out to you? Verse 10 is what stood out to me today.

What does this mean? At first reading this story, I struggle with it because some of this seems like we need a theologian to explain portions of this scripture like verses 11-13. But remember we are not conducting an in depth study. This is only a devotional. So I am really glad those were not my verses, but I will notate them and study them in depth later.

Peter, James, and John were given a wonderful opportunity to be able to see the Prophet Elijah and Moses with their own eye. If that was not good enough, God Almighty himself comes in a cloud and speaks to them. Of course, we know it’s God because that is seen throughout the Old Testament in how God would come to his people in the form of the cloud since he is too glorious to be looked upon with human earthly eyes.

Jesus is being transfigured before these men. Something that I want to note is that this is more than a really bright light shinning on Jesus. In the ESV version, it says Jesus was transfigured. Transfigured means to change into another form, a metamorphosis. I wonder if they were seeing Jesus in his heavenly form? I have not found any commentary as of yet about that, but it makes sense to me. They were seeing God the Son in this story.

Then we have Peter. Oh Peter, Peter, Peter. Gotta love him. Out of no where, he’s like let us build each of you a tent/shelter because he did not know what to do and he’s freaking out. But aren’t we like Peter too. Something amazing is taking place, and we will say or do something that later on we’re like, why did I say or do that? Kind of like when you meet a celebrity. This is your opportunity and you say something so stupid. Come on. I know I am not the only one who has done this.

But thank goodness God showed up and changes the awkwardness. The last time we read about God’s audible voice is when Jesus was baptized, and God told those there that this was his son. Here again God himself is confirming that this is his Son, the Christ, the Messiah.

What does this mean to me/us? When I looked at verse 10, I took into consideration what I read and studied last time. Last time I discussed that the disciple were still blinded or seeing with a blurry vision after Jesus told them straight up that he was going to suffer, die, and the be raised from the dead. So now here, only six days later, Jesus mentions in verse 9 “…until the Son of Man had risen from the dead”. They are questioning what Jesus means. Sometimes I get frustrated with the disciples, because they still don’t see it. They heard from God himself to listen to what Jesus is tells them. They’re like whatever does he mean?! Never mind that he just told you that he is going to die! Aaahh! Isn’t that frustrating at times?

But aren’t we like this? Ok maybe not you, but I know there are times that I can be. God will tell me things or show me something, and I act like the disciples by questioning what he has said. In this case, there is no denying the encounter that they just had not only with the Prophet Elijah and Moses, but with God. Imagine what they got to over hear. Perhaps they were discussing what Jesus was about to endure. Of course this only speculation, but I know I would be ease dropping. Come on, wouldn’t you? Yet the disciples are still walking around with a blurry vision.

Never fear. There is hope. Jesus will make our vision clear in his timing. The day will come when I will be able to see the picture that he’s been trying to describe for me/us. This is hard for me since I’m a visual person. I really need to see something to understand it. Regardless, what we continue to read about is that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, who came and died for me because he loved me. He did it to set me free from sin and death, so that I can have a relationship with him and the Father. And I will no longer be blinded by things and thoughts that I may have because Jesus will open up my eyes with the help of the Holy Spirit.

What verse spoke out to you and what is God trying to show you through it? Write it out in your journal. Then say a prayer and have a conversation with God about it.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for not wanting to leave me in a blinded state. I know you are trying to open my eyes to things so that I will see things/situations the way that you see them. Help me Holy Spirit by giving me those nudges or place the flashing neon sign in my path so that I will understand and that I won’t get in the way again. Lord, I want what you want and I want to see what you see. Thank you for your continue patience with me as I continue to grow everyday. In Jesus name, AMEN.