Mark 9:9-13 (NIVUK)
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what ‘rising from the dead’ meant.
11 And they asked him, ‘Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?’
12 Jesus replied, ‘To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.’
What’s this about Elijah, why did he have to come first, and first before what? Tradition had it that Elijah would appear before the coming of the Messiah. By ‘restores all things’ its suggested Jesus was saying that Elijah had to prepare the way for the Messiah. Maybe they were thinking about having just seen Elijah on the mountain top, but Jesus seems to have another ‘Elijah’ in mind – John the Baptist, who called the people to repentance and told them to prepare for the Messiah, and like Elijah, challenged a weak ruler and their wicked consort (for Elijah it was Ahab and Jezebel, for John Herod and Herodias). There’s a pattern here perhaps, Elijah suffered under the authorities of his day, as did John, and soon, as would Jesus.
Thank you Jesus that you were prepared to suffer for us. Am I prepared to suffer to prepare the way for others to meet you?
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