Mark 9:9-10 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.
And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
Jesus took James, John, and Peter up on the mount where they saw the glory of Jesus. They also saw Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah and heard God the Father say “This is my beloved Son: hear him.” Pretty amazing. Jesus told them not to tell anyone about what they saw until after he rose from the dead. They began talking among themselves about “what the rising from the dead should mean.” That is amazing too. How much clearer could Jesus have been? He said “until the Son of man were risen from the dead” and the disciples wondered what He meant. Jesus couldn’t have spoken the truth any plainer but the disciples wouldn’t hear. They had their own presuppositions about what was going to happen next. They had their own way of thinking about how the world works.
What Jesus told them didn’t fit into their system. They believed at any time, Jesus was going to go into Jerusalem and take over. Any day now, Jesus was going to be King. Soon, they thought, Jesus was going to crush the Roman Empire and set Israel free. But their notion of what was going to happen did not coincide with the truth. Jesus was going to die, and they didn’t want to hear it. So they didn’t hear it, even when Jesus told them as much.
We might shake our heads at the dullness of the disciples, but is it any different than how we can approach the Bible? When we come across a command that we don’t like or a truth that makes us uncomfortable, do we believe the plain truth we read? Or, do we do a word study to try and figure out what it REALLY means? The truth can be unsettling when we come to see that it goes against our preconceived notions. It can turn our world upside-down.
The disciples could have asked Jesus what he meant. They also could have compared what they heard with other messages He had given. When a confusing passage presents itself, compare Scripture with Scripture. Yes, do a word study if you don’t understand what you are reading, but study to understand, not to explain away. Unbelief takes clear passages and makes them fuzzy, confusing, and nuanced. When God rebukes you or the culture you love, don’t start looking for a way out of believing. Don’t twist the truth in order to ignore the truth and harden your heart. When God rebukes your lifestyle; when God rebukes your view of marriage, don’t rebel against the Lord by looking for a way to make God always agree with you.