As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept this word to themselves, questioning what “rising from the dead” meant. 9:9-10
In these chapters of Mark, Jesus is preparing his disciples for Easter; not only for His death but also for His resurrection. These guys know that He is from God and that He can do miracles but they have not yet understood what it is to do the “impossible.” That is what Easter is all about, it is about God showing us that He can do the impossible. Healing sicknesses, feeding the masses, doing miracles; they are getting their minds around those things but death is the great line in the sand that nobody in history has ever crossed. There was great division and speculation among the Jews about the veracity of resurrection and whether there would be one at all. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were divided about this very issue. In these two chapters, Jesus settles it.
First, his disciples actually see Elijah and Moses face to face and are astounded to see their heroes of the faith alive and well in a spiritual form. Obviously, there is life after death. Then Jesus Himself intimates that He will die and will rise again from the dead… but those guys are walking down the mountain considering whether Jesus can actually do the “impossible.” It is no mistake that in the next scene they confront a man with a demon-possessed son and Jesus tells him, “Everything is possible for the one who believes.” (9:23) After this, He again tells them of His coming death and resurrection but they are afraid to ask Him about it (9:32). Finally, after hearing about how hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom, Jesus tells them “With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible” and He again predicts his death and resurrection (10:33-34).
The disciples’ world was being turned upside down and they learned that what they thought was impossible is indeed very possible. That is the message of Easter. The Son of God did what every person will do… He died, and then He did what no person has ever done, He rose from the dead never to die again (Lazarus eventually died a second time). He is the first fruit of the resurrection which means because He rose, we who are in Christ will also rise. He defeated death, sin and the grave and He is now seated at the right hand of the Father and lives forever to make intercession for you and me. All things are possible in Christ, and “because He lives we can face tomorrow; because He lives all fear is gone.” We know He holds the future and we know that the impossible is now possible for those who follow Him. Jesus delights in dismantling our plausibility structures (our belief about what is possible and what is not). Remember that the message of Easter is that “nothing is impossible with God.”
