37. Mark 9:9-13: The Question of Elijah
We always have to come down from the mountain. That’s an inescapable truth in following Jesus. In fact, having the mountain-top experience of all mountain-top experiences has only confused and complicated James’, Peter’s, and John’s sense of following him. And these kinds of experiences often have the same effect on us. We want to stay there and freeze the moment making it our spiritual experience all the time. At least our trio has the excuse of going through this before the resurrection of Jesus, which he intimates will help clarify what this mountain-top moment really means (v.9). And this time Jesus’ injunction to silence is kept. Probably because they knew they did not know what he meant by “rising from the dead,” so they had nothing to tell anyone (v.10)! If we don’t understand the source, we can always consult the interpreters. Jesus’ inner three turn to the “scribes” to raise the matter with him. “Why must Elijah come first?” they ask. Jesus answers “to restore all t...