Rising – Mark 9:10

Mark 9:10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.

I am often surprised when others miss something that seems so obvious to me. It is right there in front of their faces, but for some reason or other, they can’t see it. Even Time magazine put out an article last week about the failure of democracy during this last election. They approached it, pointing out the forces against the former President, saying that those against him, the media, big tech and his opponents, all ganged up and ‘saved democracy.’ Of course they violated the very foundation of democracy in the process, but the ends justified the means.

It can be easy to miss the obvious. The inner three disciples had such a moment. They had just seen Jesus changed into an otherworldly being right before their eyes. And as they are leaving the place where this took place, Jesus warns them not to tell anyone about what they had experienced until after He rises from the dead.

Now we understand what Jesus means by these words since we live after the event. It is part of our vocabulary. We haven’t experienced it ourselves, but we at least have a description of such an event and its aftermath. 

Suppose I told you about a “light flash event.” We were just standing there, close together (it must not have been during COVID), smiling and then it happened. Out of nowhere the light was so bright that our eyes squinted. And then our eyesight was strongly changed. We saw a bright white light even with our eyes were closed. And before we knew it there was another flash of light.

You have probably surmised that a “light flash event” is a modern day photo session. But if you had never been through one, you would grapple with your imagination trying to figure out what a “light flash event” was. But now after your experience, it is easy to know what it is.

And so the disciples had not experienced ‘rising from the dead’ yet, so they are mystified. They can’t figure out what Jesus is talking about. Jesus spells out in more detail the events that will lead up to his ‘rising’ later in this chapter, and even then they don’t understand.

We need to extend grace to each other in the Body. We have all had different experiences in life. I know what the desert winds in Iraq feels like. I know what the finest of the sand blowing through the air does to equipment, getting in every possible nook and cranny. But if you have never been in an Iraqi sandstorm, you probably don’t understand the oppressive heat and devastating winds.

There will be times when we don’t understand each other’s experiences. They aren’t ours. So it takes patience and a great listening heart to get close enough to begin to understand, but the outcome is worth the energy. We are in the same family, after all. Eternity, which has already begun, is worth the effort.

Eventually the disciples understood the meaning of what Jesus was saying. But even after the resurrection, it took some new experiences for them to come closer to full understanding. They had to touch Him. They had to eat with Him. They had to talk and laugh with each other, cry and plead with each other, before they experienced themselves their own resurrection.

Those who had once been dead came to life. Victory over sin in the lives of individuals as a result of the message spreading put flesh on bones and breath to lungs. They saw new life springing up, and they understood. Have we understood the implications of Jesus’ resurrection in our lives?