Mark 9 & 10

***Mark 9***

The ultimate mountain-top experience.

Peter, James and John are lucky. They witness what no one else has ever witnessed on this earth... Jesus, Moses and Elijah together. Moses and Elijah were pillars of the Jewish faith, and for Jesus to be with them, means Jesus must be the Messiah. Up until now the disciples have seen Jesus perform miracles and teach parables... but they hadn't seen anything like this. Their faith must have been at an all-time high, no wonder Peter wanted to make dwellings and stay there.

And then... they hear the voice of God. Remember the paragraph before, where Peter rebukes Jesus? God has something to say to Peter, "This is my son, listen to him!" I imagine that at that moment Peter realized that Jesus knew more than he did... I imagine Peter cried out "I believe, help my unbelief." How could one not believe after witnessing such things?

But unfortunately they could not stay on the mountain; they had to go back to the group, back to everyday life.

I think most of us have had mountain-top experiences. Moments where God felt so close that we could hear his voice. Places where God seemed more real than any other place we have ever been to. For me that place is Stony Lake Lutheran Camp, for you it may have been a retreat, or a camp, or a worship service... And like the disciples we had to leave that place and go back to everyday life. We had to come down from the mountain. And as we journey further and further from the mountain, it fades in the rearview and soon we forget what it felt like.

It must have been hard for the disciples to see these things and not be able to tell anyone about it. In Mark, Jesus is always telling people to not to say anything about him until after the resurrection. The best way to remember what the mountain felt like is to tell others the story... tell others what it felt like to feel God so close. Luckily for us we live after the resurrection and can tell our story every day. The more we tell our mountian-top story the closer God feels. Remember, if you feel far from God, only one of you moved, and it wasn't God.

[*Sidenote* Most scholars believe that Mark was written during the Roman rule and Mark didn't want the Romans to think that Jesus was a political figure trying to overthrow them. If he kept everything a secret then he was no threat to the Romans, and neither are his followers. Matthew and Luke however were written after the fall of Jerusalem, so they didn't have to worry about the Romans.]

***Mark 10***

Children are wonderful.

Especially when they are at the age where they haven't yet learned all the dumb things the world teaches them. They haven't yet learned that money and posessions are the goal of life. (it's no mistake that the story immediately following this one is about the man who refused to sell all he had) They haven't yet learned that men are better than women, that whites are better than blacks and mexicans, that gay people are less worthy of love than straight people and that mentally impaired people should be put somewhere for society to forget about.

Children are innocent, they are pure... until we corrupt them. And it seems that we have been corrupting them earlier and earlier. Have you seen the video games they play now? The movies that are made for them? The TV shows? Have you ever watched Tom and Jerry? Cartoon violence is still violence.

Is it impossible to receive the Kingdom of God like a child... which is why God sacrificed his child. So that those who can't fit through the eye of a needle still have hope. So that those who have been corrupted by our society can hold on to God's everlasting love and know that a better life awaits.