COMMENTARY ON MARK
LESSON NUMBER 101
“ Mark 9:30 And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and He would not that any man should know it. 31 For He taught His disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after that He is killed, He shall rise the third day. 32 But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask Him.” (Mark 9:30-32; Matt 17:22-23; Luke 9:44-45)
JESUS TEACHES OF HIS REAL WORK
INTRODUCTION
Within the Christian community there is a lot of folklore concerning the nature of Jesus Christ. He is represented as having certain preferences and inclinations that are foreign to the record God has given of His Son. In His death and resurrection, Jesus successfully addressed the human dilemma caused by sin, and did something about sin itself. In His life He exposed men to the Divine nature over an extended period of time. The Father Himself was revealed in the manner in which Jesus lived visibly among men (John 14:9). In His life, His manners, and His teaching, He “manifested” the name of God among men – that is, He exposed them to the nature and purpose of the Father. His responses were those of God Himself among men. His works were the works of the Father (John 10:37; 14:10). The response of men to Jesus was actually their response to the Father (John 15:24). For this reason, a misrepresentation of Jesus is most serious. In such a case, God the Father Himself has been misrepresented. What is even more, God cannot possibly be known through a misrepresentation of Himself – and eternal life is, in fact, knowing God (John 17:3). Therefore, those who distort the Person of God by their misrepresentations of Christ have actually prohibited men from receiving eternal life, or entering into the Kingdom. In order to ensure that an accurate representation of Christ was given to men, God has provided an extensive record of His life, when He “dwelt among” men, and the “glory” of God was beheld in Him (John 1:14). John refers to the time when they beheld Jesus with their eyes and handled Him with their hands as the time when “that eternal life, which was with the Father” was “manifested” to them (1 John 1:1-2). Now, in the Gospel record, we are being exposed to that very same Jesus, and we do well to comprehend it.
WHEN JESUS WANTED PRIVATE TIME
“ Mk 9:30 And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and He would not that any man should know it.”
THEY DEPARTED THENCE. Prior to the confrontation of the man with a demon-possessed son, Jesus had departed from the multitudes with Peter, James, and John. There, in a “high mountain,” He had been transfigured, and even spoke with Moses and Elijah concerning His imminent death in Jerusalem. Now, after coming down from the mountain and healing the oppressed son, He leaves the area and goes through Galilee. Several times it is written that Jesus “departed” from certain places. After hearing that John the Baptist had been thrown into prison, “He departed into Galilee” (Matt 4:12). Another time He “departed . . . into a desert place apart” (Matt 14:13). Yet another time He “departed from Galilee,” coming into the “coasts of Judea” (Matt 19:1). He is known to have left the multitudes, departing “to pray” (Mk 6:46). After testifying to the woman at the well of Samaria, Jesus “departed thence, and went into Galilee” (John 4:43). Again, when He perceived His popularity was growing, and the people planned to force Him to be their king, “He departed again into a mountain Himself alone” (John 6:15).
From these, and similar, records, we learn that Jesus’ fundamental agenda was not simply to be with the people. There came a time when being with the people became inhibitive, and He withdrew from them. It was the clash of natures that moved Him to such action. Whatever you may think about God the Father, in the Son it is confirmed that there is a certain hostility between Him and fallen men that cannot be denied. Those who say that Jesus preferred to be with publicans, harlots, and the likes, have grossly distorted His Person, and the character of God Himself as well. Such people are fond of telling us we would find Jesus in a public place, with the destitute, among the degenerates, and so forth. They are ignorant of the fact that you might also find Him in the desert, on a mountain, or in some private place with his disciples, as is affirmed in this very text. Any individual who alleges that Christ prefers to be with the lost and the ignorant has unwittingly contradicted the whole reason for reconciliation, atonement, and justification. Such people do not deserve a hearing.
PASSED THROUGH GALILEE. That is, He “began to go through Galilee.” NASB Matthew says that this occasion took place “while they abode in Galilee” (Matt 17:22). Galilee was a place in which Jesus spent a lot of time. He taught throughout Galilee “teaching in their synagogues” (Matt 4:23). His fame spread throughout Galilee (Mk 1:28). Nazareth, the town in which Jesus was brought up, was in Galilee (Lk 1:26). Capernaum, where Jesus centered His ministry, was in Galilee (Lk 4:31). Before He died, Jesus told His disciples that when He had risen from the dead, He would meet them in Galilee (Matt 26:32; Mk 14:28). Following His resurrection, Jesus instructed His disciples to meet Him in Galilee (Matt 28:7,10,16; Mk 16:7).
Matthew says Jesus went into Galilee to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah concerning His illuminating ministry. “ . . . He departed into Galilee . . . That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matt 4:12-16).
This is not the place men would have chosen as the base of the Messiah’s ministry. In fact, Jesus’ half-brothers once admonished Him to spend more time in Judaea, where they thought He was more apt to be better known (John 7:3-4). However, Jesus’ ministry was not driven by practicality. His agenda had been determined by the Father, as revealed through the prophet Isaiah. Frequently, the Father’s works would require Him to go into other areas, but His base of operation remained in Galilee. Although its citizenry was not sophisticated (Acts 2:7), yet God determined that Divine light would shine forth in that area. This confirmed that “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Cor 1:27).
This time, however, Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem of Judaea, where He would give Himself as a ransom for many. Therefore He is said to pass through Galilee. At this point, the multitudes would be a distraction, for He must concentrate on the reason He came into the world – to lay down His life and take it up again (John 10:17-18).
HE WOULD NOT THAT ANY MAN KNOW. Other versions read, “He did not want anyone to know it,” NKJV and “He was unwilling for anyone to know about it.” NASB The aim of Jesus was not to become popular! He was driven by a consuming desire to do the will of the Father who sent Him. That was His “meat,” or the thing that sustained Him in His work (John 4:34). There was a significant part of His ministry that did not have to do with the multitudes. There came times when He did not want to be with the masses – times when He withdrew from them. Contrary to the teaching of some, the Lord is not always accessible. That is why men are admonished to seek him “while He may be found” (Isa 55:6).
JESUS WITHDRAWS TO TEACH HIS DISCIPLES
“ 31 For He taught His disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after that He is killed, He shall rise the third day.”
FOR. Other versions read, “because,” NIV and “for He wanted to spend more time with His disciples.” NLT This explains WHY Jesus departed and passed through Galilee. He had an objective for doing so, and it was not simply to get away from the fickled multitudes. Two things are involved here, and they are joined together: (1) The Father’s will, and (2) Jesus’ preference. Here is another occasion where Jesus preferred to be with His disciples. It was a time when the Father’s will called for Him to leave the masses and spend time with His “chosen” ones (John 15:16,19). On the eve of His betrayal, when Jesus prayed to the Father, He referred to His ministry upon earth. He made no reference to the masses, or the multitudes among whom He did mighty works, and to whom He spake in parables. He did say, “I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world . . . For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me . . . I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine . . . Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth” (John 17:6,8,9,17).
Those who insist that the gathering of the saints is a time to appeal to the multitudes need to consider the manner of Jesus, who was the revelation of the Father Himself.
HE TAUGHT HIS DISCIPLES. When you consider the teaching of Jesus, when He made the things of God clear and expounded truth, His disciples were always His preference. As it is written, “And with many such parables spake He the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake He not unto them: and when they were alone, He expounded all things to his disciples” (Mark 4:33-34). Jesus is never said to have begun with Moses and the all the prophets, and expounded things concerning himself to the multitudes. He did, however, do this with His disciples (Lk 24:27,45).
Churches in which there is a woeful ignorance of Christ and the Kingdom of God are churches in which Jesus has not taught. Such a condition belies any profession of faith, for it is the manner of Jesus, in whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily, to expound all things to His disciples. This is even more true since He has been exalted. Now, He is come to “give us an understanding” (1 John 5:20). He is the teaching Jesus, and it is the business of those who profess His name to hear Him (Eph 4:20-21). God cannot possibly be glorified by a church in which the people are not “taught of God,” and are not learning Christ.
THE SON OF MAN IS DELIVERED. The closer the time of Christ’s appointed death came, the more He spoke about it. At the time, it seemed as though Jesus was popular. However, Jesus told His disciples the time was coming when He would be delivered into the hands of men, and they would not do Him good. It is God Himself who would “deliver” Jesus into their hands, for they were totally incapable of taking Him themselves (Rom 4:25; 8:32). On the surface, it appeared as though men took Him, but their taking of Him was actually according to “the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).
THEY SHALL KILL HIM. Often the Jews and their leaders had attempted to take Christ’s life. “And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him” (John 5:16). “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him” (John 5:18); “the Jews sought to kill Him” (John 7:1); “Is not this He, whom they seek to kill?”(John 7:25). However, they were unable to fulfill their ambitions for, as it is written, “His hour was not yet come” (John 7:30).
However, when His hour did arrive they “killed the Prince of life” (Acts 3:15). They “killed the Lord Jesus” (1 Thess 2:15), and are therefore referred to as His “murderers” (Acts 7:52). Solemnly they are charged with having “slain” Jesus (Acts 2:23), for they are the ones who “slew and hanged on a tree” the Lord’s Christ (Acts 5:30).
HE SHALL RISE THE THIRD DAY. Matthew emphasizes the Father’s role in Christ’s resurrection: “and the third He shall be raised again” (Matt 17:23). For centuries men have haggled about when Jesus was crucified, citing the word of Jesus concerning being in the heart of the earth “three days and three nights” (Matt 12:40). Taking these to be three full days and three full nights, they tell us Jesus could not possible have been in the earth three days and three nights if He was crucified on Friday. Being unlearned, they overlook this statement: “He shall rise the third day” (Mk 9:31; 10:34; Matt 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; Lk 9:22; 13:32; 18:33; 24:7,46; Acts 10:40; 1 Cor 15:4). The “three days and three nights,” therefore count the part of a day as a day. The book of Esther speaks in precisely the same manner, siting a period of “three days,” with “the third day” being noted as the completion of the period (Esther 4:16; 5:1).
Luke adds that Jesus said, “Let these sayings sink down into your ears”(Lk 9:44), emphasizing the necessity of understanding His words.
SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE AND ITS IMPACT
“ 30 But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask Him.”
THEY UNDERSTOOD NOT. Other versions read, “they did not understand what He meant,” NIV “the saying was not clear to them,” BBE and “they did not comprehend what He was saying.” AMPLIFIED The text is not speaking of an academic understanding. What Jesus said was certainly clear from that point of view: He would be delivered into the hands of men, they would kill Him, and He would rise again the third day. Any person with a modicum of understanding can grasp the words themselves. However, that is not the kind of understanding to which our text refers.
Perhaps you have heard people speak about being satisfied with what the Bible says, and letting the matter go with that. However, this text, together with many others, confirms that when Jesus spoke, much more was intended than what the words themselves conveyed. His words were like containers in which great measures of truth were concealed. It required understanding to profit from them – the understanding that comes from faith (Heb 11:3).
THEY WERE EXCEEDING SORRY. Matthew adds, “and they were exceeding sorry,” or “deeply grieved,” NASB or “greatly distressed” NRSV (Matt 17:23). That is, they could see no profit in his death, and had no grasp at all concerning Him rising from the dead (Mk 9:10). To them, in their present state, Christ’s words conveyed the idea of tragedy and the ultimate injustice and disadvantage. However, in actuality, they would later find that this was the appointed means of destroying the devil (Heb 2:14), removing sin (1 John 3:5), reconciling the world (Rom 5:10), making peace with God (Col 1:20), and opening up a new and living way to God (Heb 10:20). As clear as those things became later, they were absolutely hidden from the disciples at this time. One of the things accomplished during those ten days of waiting and tarrying prior to Pentecost was the weaning of the hearts of the disciples from all tradition and earthly views of Jesus and His Kingdom. Remaining in the presence of the Lord had a cleansing effect upon their souls that readied them to perceive what had formerly been hidden.
IT WAS HID FROM THEM. Luke adds, “But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not” (Lk 9:45). Other versions read, “concealed from them, so that they could not grasp it,” NASB and “their minds had been sealed.” LIVING Much later, Jesus will speak again of His impending death, and they will understand “none of these things.” Of that occasion it is also written, “this saying was hid from them” (Lk 18:31-34). There are conditions of mind and heart in which truth cannot be discerned. We know from a later incident that even after Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples were still thinking of Jesus as a political Savior, who would restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6-7).
Improper views involve more than simply not understanding. That condition also obscures the truth, so that it cannot be discerned. Faith requires the abandonment of error as well as the embrace truth. Faith cannot hold error and reality at the same time. If error is maintained, truth is hidden, as this text indicates. Error creates a sort of spiritual eclipse so that the truth cannot be seen. I can tell you from experience that it is exceedingly difficult to lay aside erroneous views of the Word of God. The only way for this to be accomplished is to “receive the love of the truth,” which comes from God (2 Thess 2:10). That involves a disdain for the things of this world, the wisdom of men, and all things related to them.
There is an approach to understanding the Scriptures that relies upon, what is called, “common sense.” In this approach, men are urged to simply take the Scriptures for what they say, believe them, and go on their way rejoicing. It all sounds very fine – but, if this is true, what is to be done with this text. What if the individual has distorted views of Scripture, of God, of Christ, and of salvation? Will such views not cause truth to be hidden, just as it did in this text?
THEY WERE AFRAID TO ASK. Other versions read, “they were afraid to ask Him [what this statement meant],” AMPLIFIED and “they were afraid to question Him.” WEYMOUTH Luke reads, “and they feared to ask Him of that saying” (Luke 9:45). Now, these disciples are in the presence of the real Jesus. If His presence makes people feel really comfortable, then that is how they will feel. If He welcomes people no matter what they do, and regardless of the condition, then these men, who have spent over two years with Him, will surely sense something of those conditions.
These real disciples sense that ignorance is not something concerning which Jesus is indifferent. Jesus had already told them before that He was going to be killed and be raised from the dead (Mk 8:31; 9:12). Now, for at least the third time, He refers to these events again, and the disciples still cannot take hold of His words. They do not throw their ignorance in the face of Jesus. They seem to sense a state of simplicity and unintelligence is out of place before the One who has spoken the truth. They had asked Him to for assistance in understanding before (Matt 17:10; Mk 7:17; 9:28; 10:10; 13:3). This time, however was different, for Jesus had spoken before of this matter. Mind you, Jesus is not waiting to destroy those who lack understanding. God Himself stands ready to give wisdom and understanding to those who require and seek it (James 1:5). However, apart from faith, this is not at all apparent.