In the next scene Mark describes, Jesus takes his inner
circle to a mountain top. He is transfigured before them. He takes on the
appearance he had before he was born, when the angels worshipped him. Three
disciples get to witness this incredible moment: Peter, James, and John. These
were his closest disciples. There were levels of intimacy that people had with
Jesus. The furthest out were the crowds. They followed him sometimes, listened
to him, shouted Hosanna as he entered Jerusalem, shouted crucify when he was
condemned. They are fickle. They are not close. They know who he is, but they
don’t have a personal relationship with him.
The second group was the disciples. These were followers.
They got his teaching explained. Of those there were twelve, even more select,
that he designated as apostles. And they went with him everywhere. Of those
twelve, the three he brings to the mountain were closest to him. John, in his
Gospel, refers to himself as “the disciple Jesus loved.” Following Jesus is all
about relationship.
Jesus ministry method is counter intuitive. Instead of
trying to reach the crowds, trying to influence as many people as possible, he
focuses on just a few. He spends time teaching and training them. He knew that
he would be leaving his infant church in their hands. In verse thirty, Jesus
leaves the crowds so that he can focus on teaching just the disciples.
It is here that Jesus catches the disciples arguing over who
would be the greatest in the kingdom. This is completely out of line with his system.
He explains, if you want to be great, you must be a servant. This is the
opposite of the world’s system. In the world, the weak serve the powerful. That
is how the world has always worked. But Jesus is changing it. “If anyone would
be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35).
Jesus gave us the greatest demonstration of this system. He,
the king of heaven, the creator, the sustainer of all things, the most powerful
God, the omnipotent one, the beginning and the end, came to the earth to serve
his creation. He is born as a helpless baby in a filthy stable to poor parents
in a conquered county. He gets down on his knees and washes his followers’
feet. Jesus, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by
taking on the very nature of a servant, being found in appearance as a man, he
humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!”
(Philippians 2:6-8). He is our example.
On the way back from the transfiguration, Jesus sees a crowd
gathered. There is a boy who is demon possessed there. The disciples could not
cast out the demon. Jesus questions the boy’s father. He says, “if you can do
anything, take pity on us and help us.” “‘If you can?’” said Jesus, “Everything
is possible for the one who believes.”
This leads to another important principle of the kingdom of
God. It is accessed by faith. We are born again by faith. In fact, faith is
required to receive anything from God. “without faith it is impossible to
please God” (Heb. 11:6). “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because
the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord”(James 1:6-7). Remember
that Jesus couldn’t heal very many people in his hometown because of the lack
of faith. Belief is necessary for the kingdom. No one will enter the kingdom of
God without faith. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does
not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name
of God’s one and only son” (John 3:18).
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