The Transfiguration & The Healing In The Valley

Mk. 9:2-29

A. On the Mountain v.2-8

B. Down the Mountain v.9-13

C. In the Valley v.14-29

Transcript

 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, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.
And there appeared to them Elijah and 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, This is my beloved son, listen to him. And suddenly,
looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. And as they
were coming down the mountain, 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 the 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 to him whatever they pleased, as it
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 greatly amazed, and ran up to him and greeted him. And he
asked them, What are they arguing about with them? And someone from the crowd
answered him, Teacher, I have brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that
makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and
grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your 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 cast him into fire and into water to destroy
him. But 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, You mutant-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 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 Jesus said to them, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but
prayer. Praise God for his word. Thanks, Ryan. Let's take a minute and pray
together. Lord God, we come to you in humility and thank you for these words.
And Lord, I pray that you would feed us from your word this morning, strengthen
us for the week ahead, give us understanding. There are many interesting and
fascinating things in here. But Lord, I pray that by your Holy Spirit, you would
illuminate our hearts and minds and lift our hearts up to Christ. Help us to
understand. In Jesus' name, Amen. Okay, we're in this sermon series from Mark
called The King Who Came to Die. And the first eight chapters of Mark focus on
Jesus' life, and it focuses largely on his identity. So we're reading about
someone who Mark describes as having comprehensive authority. He can heal the
sick, he can cast out demons, he can calm the wind and the waves. He has
authority to declare sins forgiven. And that all builds towards Peter's
confession in the end of chapter eight. When Jesus asks his disciples, Who do
people say that I am? They respond to him and say, So well, some people are
saying this and some people are saying that. But Jesus presses them and says,
But who do you say that I am? And Peter speaks up and says boldly, You are the
Christ. And he's right. But then Mark turns and we start to see that Peter is
right about that, but he doesn't have everything, he doesn't understand
everything. When Jesus begins to explain that he has come to suffer and to die,
Peter rebukes him. That's not at all part of his expectation for the promised
king. Jesus is the king, but his mission is to come and to die. And this next
episode that Ryan just read is what's known as the Transfiguration. Ryan already
read for us the account of the Transfiguration and the healing of the boy. The
movement of the passage helps us to understand this as a whole and break this
up. We begin up the mountain with the Transfiguration. Then we go down, back
down the mountain where Jesus teaches his disciples and explains what just
happened and we descend all the way into the valley where they encounter this
horrific evil and Jesus heals this boy possessed by a demon. So there's three
movements here. On the mountaintop, down the mountain and into the valley. Down
the mountain we see Jesus' identity. He is the glory of God, the son of God,
transfigured in heavenly brightness. Down the mountain we start to see Jesus'
mission. He descends into our brokenness to suffer and to give his life as a
ransom for many. We get a foretaste of that as Jesus descends the mountain. And
then in the valley we see what our response needs to be. Jesus is our only hope,
the one we must listen to and the one we must trust in. So let's begin with what
happens on top of the mountain where we see Jesus, the glory of God. I'm going
to read two through eight once again. 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. His clothes became radiant, intensely white as no one
on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses and
they were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good that we are
here. Let us make three tents, one for you, 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. This is my beloved son.
Listen to him. Suddenly looking around they no longer saw anyone with them but
Jesus only. So this transfiguration is happening only six days after Jesus and
Peter had this conversation. Peter rebukes Jesus. Jesus takes his three closest
disciples, Peter, James and John and they go up this mountain. Most scholars
think this is Mount Herman, a little bit outside of Galilee. It's almost 9,200
feet above sea level. So this is a hike, they are up there. They are almost
4,000 feet higher than anywhere you could go in New York State. So this is a
climb that would take a good portion of the day and if you want to Google Mount
Herman today when you go home you'll see this is a beautiful, sometimes snow-
capped mountain. Jesus' disciples are confused by what they heard six days
earlier but they are about to have an experience that's going to change them
forever. Jesus is transfigured on top of the mountain. That means his outward
appearance changed. The text says his clothes became radiant, intensely white as
no one on earth could bleach them. Transfiguration is like metamorphosis. We're
seeing Jesus in his glorified state as he would have appeared before he came
down to earth, as he will appear when we see him, when he returns. So this
moment is very rich with significance. Let me explain a couple things. His
radiance and purity is an expression of the holiness of his character. And this
type of language is used earlier in the Bible. And the prophet Daniel has a
heavenly vision. Daniel 7 says that Daniel gets a vision of the heavenly
courtroom. And Daniel 7 verse 9 says the Ancient of Days took his seat. His
clothing was white as snow and the hair of his head was like pure wool. So in
Daniel's vision, God himself, the Ancient of Days, was on the throne in the
heavenly courtroom. And Daniel saw him in absolute purity and holiness. Now on
the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus' purity and holiness and radiance is
emanating from him. It's a manifestation of who Jesus really is. God himself,
the second person of the Trinity, in the flesh. Now if you go back in the Old
Testament again, this passage brings to mind how Moses the prophet used to go up
on Mount Sinai to commune with God. When he did that, there was a sense in which
Moses would be transfigured. Exodus 33 tells us, when Moses came down from Mount
Sinai with two tablets and the testimony in his hand as he came down from the
mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he'd been
talking with God. So Moses' encounter with God on Sinai was so profound that his
physical appearance was transfigured. His face would reflect the glory of God.
Moses had asked God to show him his glory and God had told him, you're not going
to be able to survive that experience. Moses would die if he had a direct
encounter with the Holy God. Now here is Jesus and the glory of Jesus is not a
reflection as with Moses. It's actually emanating from him. He's the source of
the glory. This is exactly how the New Testament speaks of the identity of Jesus
in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews says he is the radiance of the glory of God in
the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the world. He upholds the
universe by the word of his power. So we're starting to see the glory of Jesus
and on the mountain we see Moses, the great Old Testament law giver and then we
see Elijah, the greatest prophet of the Old Testament. And here are these two
men with Jesus representing the law and the prophets and they're conversing with
Jesus. In Luke's parallel account, he says that he provides the detail that they
are speaking with Jesus about his departure. For the disciples it's this amazing
transcendent awe-inspiring experience. And Peter says to Jesus, Rabbi or
teacher, it's good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you, one
for Moses, one for Elijah, for he did not know what to say, for they were
terrified. Most people say nothing when they're scared. It's not Peter's style
and he speaks up. But his idea of the three tents probably doesn't make much
sense to us. And he is scared, he's terrified, but he's not just blurting out
nonsense. The idea here is that Peter is suggesting three tabernacles or three
shelters. That's the Greek word for the tent, it's tabernacle. What's being
suggested here is in the Old Testament the tabernacle is a moveable tent. It's
set up to recognize God is holy and we need some sort of intermediary between
God and us or we're all going to be blown to smithereens. So we need sacrifices
and rituals and a place to access in some way that holy God. And now the glory
of Jesus is wonderful and it's terrifying. And that's why Peter is suggesting
these shelters. It seems to Peter like the thing to do would be to create some
sort of protection, some sort of ritual, some sort of place so that we can have
this glory but also survive and be protected from the blazing holiness of God.
And then a cloud overshadows them and a voice comes out of the cloud. This is my
beloved son, listen to him. And suddenly looking around they no longer saw
anyone with them but Jesus only. That voice from heaven is an echo of Jesus'
baptism earlier in Mark where God the Father speaks and affirms his son and
suddenly Moses and Elijah are gone and we remember that Jesus said don't think
that I came to destroy the law and the prophets. I didn't come to destroy, I
came to fulfill them. Jesus receives the affirmation of God the Father and we
see he's been given all authority and he is the fulfillment of the law and the
prophets. He is the greater Moses and Elijah. He's the fulfillment of what the
Old Testament has been pointing towards. He's the one we must listen to. It's
fascinating because Peter obviously we know if we track Peter's biography
there's still much that he doesn't understand. But later on, 30 years later when
the Apostle Peter reflects on the Mount of Transfiguration and he's speaking to
the church and he's exhorting them to listen to the word. He says this in 2
Peter 1 16-19. He says we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made
known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but we were
eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the
Father and the vision was born to him by the majestic and the voice was born to
him by the majestic glory this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased we
ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the
holy mountain and we have something more sure the prophetic word to which you
will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day
dawns and the morning mists rises in your hearts. Jesus is God's son the glory
of God come down from heaven he's the one we must listen to. You know how every
once in a while at rare occasions the Pope or the president or maybe a
presidential candidate or some famous dignitary will come to Buffalo doesn't
happen often but people will line up in the streets just to get a glimpse of
this special visit maybe to see a hand wave or to see the motorcade go by we
would expect that if God sent his son to earth it would be for a visit for just
a moment of blazing glory for some spectacular moment and the disciples have
this moment of blazing glory on the mountain top but then the moment passes and
Jesus is not gone he comes down the mountain and he descends into our humanity
and as we'll see into our brokenness down the mountain descending into our
brokenness look at 9 verses 9 through 13 as they were coming down the mountain
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 did the scribes say that first
Elijah must come and he said to them Elijah does come first to restore all
things and how is it 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 to
him whatever they pleased as it is written of him so now we see Jesus and the
three disciples coming down the mountain and we see something of Jesus's mission
disciples must be stunned by what they've just seen and experienced and Jesus
tells them tell no one until he is risen from the dead he's aware Jesus is aware
there are many political people many opportunistic people many kingmakers to be
who misunderstand who he is and what his mission is they have their own agendas
and he does not want the disciples to start talking about what they've seen lest
how he's just become transfigured because it would not serve his purpose of
coming to die he knows our people who would hijack his mission to come and to
give his life as a ransom for many so he charges them tell no one until the
resurrection it's amazing because the glory and the transfiguration that just
happened is a foretaste of a greater glory to come the risen Christ the greater
glory is when Jesus rises from the dead tell no one until the resurrection then
what's the charge after the resurrection tell everyone go into all the world
tell everyone about the resurrected Jesus but the poor disciples they don't
understand this they're still questioning what this rising from the dead might
mean they asked Jesus after having just seen Elijah on the mountain why did the
scribes say that Elijah must come first at the very end of the Old Testament the
prophet Malachi says behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great
and awesome day of the Lord so that's what people are looking forward to this
coming of Elijah it's the very end of the Old Testament and by asking the
question the disciples they might be pushing back a little bit on Jesus at what
Jesus said in chapter 8 about how he had to die they're thinking they're
thinking we just saw Elijah doesn't that mean the great and awesome day of the
Lord is here like why do we have to do why why why are you talking about dying
Jesus answers them Elijah does come first to restore all things and how is it
written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with
contempt but I tell you Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they
pleased as it is written of him well as it does come first but Jesus has already
said that Elijah was John the Baptist the prophet who came the spirit and power
of Elijah he's the prophet of repentance who prepared the way of the Lord and
the point of what Jesus is saying is this look at Moses he was called to lead
God's people and he was treated with contempt look at Elijah Elijah was called
to faithfully declare God's message and the king and queen tried to kill him
look at John the Baptist he prepared the way of the Lord and his head was cut
off and like these only in a greater way Jesus has come God's Son the glory of
God come down from heaven and he will be treated with contempt he has come into
our brokenness he has condescended to enter into our sinful state and he will
suffer and die so now we descend all the way down the mountain into the valley
and we really see in this scene the horror of the world that Jesus left heaven
to enter in the valley now let's read verses 14 through 29 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 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 whenever it seizes him it throws him down any foams
and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid so I asked your disciples to cast it out
and they were not able and he answered them Oh 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 he said from childhood it's often
cast him into fire and into water to destroy him but 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 into him again and after crying out
and convulsing him terribly it came out and the boy was like a corpse so that
most of them said he's 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
couldn't we cast it out and he said to them this kind cannot be driven out by
anything but prayer maybe some of you have gone on a winter vacation before you
might go to Florida you might go to South Carolina the Caribbean maybe Mexico
and for a week or two the Sun shines every day and you're sitting by the pool
you might be having a little drink with an umbrella in it but it's still
February and then you have to come back to where you actually live it's dark and
it's like 9 degrees and you're walking through the airport and you hear that
voice that says welcome to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport and you
have to force yourself to remember this is where you actually live this is where
your actual responsibilities really are well if you've ever felt that you might
understand in some tiny fractional way what it was like for Jesus to descend the
mountain and come into the valley why did Jesus come down the mountain or why
did he come to earth at all he came to save and to rescue broken sinners and
broken sinners we might add that did not exactly roll out the red carpet for him
think about all these incredible contrasts that are going on in this scene there
was light and glory on top of the mountain now there's spiritual darkness there
was worship on top of the mountain now we see a boy with the demonic spirit
thrashing around on the top of the mountain Jesus and Moses and Elijah are
talking about Jesus's coming departure probably having one of the most profound
theological conversations that's ever taken place at the bottom of the mountain
the disciples the nine disciples and the religious leaders are having a
pointless argument about how exorcisms work when none of them can actually help
the boy there's power on top of the mountain there's helplessness in the valley
and down into the valley Jesus descends with his disciples and they come into
the presence of real evil there's a big commotion the scribes are arguing with
the disciples who didn't go up the mountain when Jesus comes to them and asks
what's going on there's a man that explains the situation 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 seizes him it throws him down and he foams at the mouth and
grinds his teeth and become rigid and becomes rigid so I asked your disciples to
cast it out they weren't able if you go back to chapter six you might remember
that the disciples the twelve disciples were sent out and given authority over
unclean spirits and they have had some level of let's call it success in their
ministry mark 613 says they cast out many demons and anointed many with oil and
many who are sick and healed them now they're unable to help this boy they've
encountered a spiritual problem that they can't solve and Jesus answered them Oh
faithless generation how long am I to be with you how long am I to bear with you
bring him to me so there's this boy and he's tortured by a spirit within him
makes him mute mark speaks often of demonic forces evil spirits unclean spirits
he doesn't try and convince you that they're real it's a fact of life in his
gospel there's the presence of real evil in the valley let's look at the people
represented in the situation the disciples are there they tried to help and
they're powerless I would guess that when the father came to him with this boy
they said sure because they've had they've had success before they've been
affected before they've tried now by the time Jesus gets on they've already
tried but it turns out they don't know what they're up against they've
overestimated their own ability and power and they have underestimated the depth
of the evil they're facing so they try to attack a problem which we see at the
end of this episode they attack it without prayer one commentator called this
prayerless exorcism and the result is total failure I'm not going to try and
tell you why the disciples had some success with some situations and in this
case they weren't able to cast out the demon I don't think there's a formulaic
answer to that but here is what we do know there are some things that we cannot
accomplish because of our unbelief so that's one group the disciples then
secondly over on the sidelines we see the scribes arguing here are the religious
leaders and I'm sure they know exactly what the disciples are doing wrong they
are beat they're over off to the side being critical arguing about the situation
taking place they these guys they're like the Monday morning they know all the
answers they know what everyone's doing wrong are they doing anything actually
helpful no completely unhelpful to the man and the boy they have no power to
heal and no power to help and then third there's this father if there's anyone
who knows the extent of the problem who knows the depth of the evil it's the
father they brought the boy to him verse 20 and when the spirit saw him
immediately it convulsed the boy and he fell on the ground and rolled about
foaming at the mouth it's a horrible pathetic scene and please don't think this
is some sort of just antiquated episode in history that could never happen today
we're reading a description of an evil demonic power working to destroy the
image of God in a young man that's the work that Satan attempts in various forms
to destroy and to degrade the image of God in humanity in this passage it's a
boy but how many people how many young people do we say do we see today being
lured into cultural deceptions that mar and seek to destroy the image of God
whether that's mutilation of the body whether it's whether it's the
encouragement to act or and dress in a way that's contrary to their god-given
sexuality or being told that the answer to the problems that they have mentally
or physically or emotionally is actually to change their sexuality please don't
think that this is something that only happened 2,000 years ago or only happens
in some weird Middle Eastern culture there is actively demonic power seeking to
destroy the image of God in humanity and it's fundamentally a spiritual issue
you know who the scribes would be today they would be the people standing off to
the side saying really smart clever and conservative things without ever praying
or caring about anyone well that's not the answer Jesus asked the father how
long has this been happening he said from childhood and it's often cast him into
the fire and into water to destroy him everyone has the same problem it's their
lack of faith Jesus calls them Oh faithless generation so the father asks Jesus
after having observed the nine disciples fail but if you can do anything if you
can have compassion on us and help us and Jesus responds by correcting this
partial faith if you can all things are possible for one who believes we read
that today sometimes kind of like a sneaker commercial but Jesus is saying I can
do it if you have faith the issue is not with my power but he is also
identifying this father does not have a committed faith and the father responds
immediately the father of the child cried out and said I believe help my
unbelief this is a wonderful thing for us because the man didn't have perfect
faith Jesus could have looked at this man and said listen I just came down from
talking to Moses and Elijah I am the glory of God come to earth and you just
came and said if you can do anything come back to me when you have real faith
come back to me when you get serious come back to me when you pull your act
together but the man when he hears Jesus's prompt he's honest and he's repentant
he has doubts he's watched his boy struggle for the last decade plus but he
wants to believe and he says help and this is where Jesus meets him this is
where he meets us too it's not when we get our act together it's not when we've
gotten all our ducks in a row it's when we come to him in repentance and we come
to him in faith saying help you don't need to be perfect to come to Jesus and
you don't need to get your act together but you can't come half-heartedly you
can't come half-heartedly sometimes we struggle with a sin so long that we
really don't think anything's gonna be done about it or sometimes we pray for a
person for so long without seeing any change that we really don't think anything
can be done so we still go to church and we still pray but we do it pretty half-
heartedly we're just kind of like throwing coins in a wishing well but whether
it's for our own sin our own heart condition or whether we're praying for
someone we love we need to have faith Jesus hears the father's helplessness and
he hears the man say I have some doubts but I want to believe help and he heals
his son when Jesus came verse 27 when Jesus came when he saw that the 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 boy was like a corpse so
that most of them said he's dead but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him
up and he arose Jesus came the glory of God descending into our sinful broken
doubting humanity and he came to rescue and to save and to restore that's for
the disciples they've been confused by their own failure they don't know why
their attempts didn't work they lack understanding they lack ability and here's
what Jesus tells them your failure it ought to be the motivation for you to put
more time more effort more focus into prayer true faith praise so they learn
from that true faith of praise and we see in this passage Jesus is the glory of
God he descends into the valley of our brokenness ultimately he descends to
suffer and to be treated with contempt and to die but he's our only hope he's
the one we must put our trust in he's the one we must put all our faith in let's
pray together Lord God I pray for those of us here in the room that are sick
with sin and with brokenness perhaps with things that we have struggled with a
long time and have in some ways lost all hope for and Lord God I pray that we
would not come to you half-heartedly or lethargically but that we would come to
you in full health in full in full faith seeking restoration Lord forgive us of
our half heartedness help us to come to you in faith and I ask that you would
restore and show your power as only you can and Lord where there are other
people that we may have prayed for for a long time and grown weary of that and
been full of doubts but I pray that you would renew our faith that we would come
believing that you would help us in our unbelief so strengthen us this day but I
pray that all of our hope would be in Christ in Jesus name Amen would you stand
with me now and we'll respond to God's Word and song