Mark 9:7-13 7And a cloud came overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus only with them. 9And as they were coming down the mountain, he commanded them to tell no one what they had seen, until when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10And they held fast the word to themselves, discussing what was rising from the dead. 11And they asked him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 12And he said to them, “In coming first, Elijah will restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, as it is written of him.”
Jesus got assurance from the two greatest figures of the Old Testament. The cross was in front of him. Knowing that the cross would be the culmination of the divine plan for creation as revealed through the Law and the Prophets confirmed to Jesus that he was in the Father’s will. The voice from heaven gives further assurance to Jesus but seems to be for the disciples who were close enough to talk to Jesus and see what was happening. The identification of Jesus as God’s Son is similar to Mark 1:11 when Jesus was baptized but with the added idea of God’s beloved Son (John 3:16). God’s voice and presence in a cloud is found in the Old Testament (Exodus 16:10; 19:9; 33:9; 1 Kings 8:10). God wants the three disciples to pay attention to Jesus, whose words are truth and life. After the voice of confirmation and identification, the scene returns to normal.
For whom was the transfiguration, and what was its purpose? On the one hand, this experience gave Jesus assurance as he made the decision to go to Jerusalem and the cross. However, there is never any indication in the Gospels that Jesus doubted his identity, even thought he faced the onslaught and temptations of the devil. On the other hand, the disciples appear confused many times up to this point in the narrative. They have enough faith to follow Jesus, but their understanding of him and his mission needs to grow. In their experience on the mountain, they saw the glory of Jesus as the Christ and Son of God and would one day tell about it. They were likely not present when Jesus was baptized and would not have heard the voice at that point. Hearing it here would erase any doubts about Jesus as the Messiah. Their experience here in chapter 9 should be read alongside of Peter’s confession in chapter 8.
Verse 9 suggests that Peter, James, and John needed to experience the cross and resurrection in order to see what true Messiahship involved. If they told others about their experience, people would start following Jesus for the wrong reasons. Both Jesus and the disciples needed to go through the experience of the cross–Jesus as the redeeming Savior, and for the disciples to know the depth of God’s love (John 3:17). The disciples would not understand the meaning of the cross and Jesus as Messiah until resurrection. Then, they could reflect back and put together the pieces of their experiences and various moments of revelation.
At this point, however, they were still confused and were trying to piece together the puzzle of their thinking. They had been listening to the scribes who were scholars of the Scriptures and knew the prophecy of Malachi 4:5-6. They had been taught that the prophet Elijah would return and return the people to God so that the Messiah could bring about the glorious new day of the Lord and restore Israel to power and greatness. The idea of the Messiah dying and rising again was not part of this plan.
Jesus again corrects their wrong thinking. The scribes’ teaching was right in one regard in that an Elijah-like figure had come in the person of John the Baptist. John had suffered for his message and many people refused to believe him. However, the Scriptures also taught that the Messiah must suffer and be despised and rejected (Isaiah 53:3). We cannot have a partial view of Jesus lest we miss out on the significance of what he came to do. We must not empty the cross of its power by failing to see Jesus as the suffering Messiah who came to redeem us from sin. Truly knowing the cross of Christ requires us to know and experience our own crosses of commitment and consecration.
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