Jesus and the Boy Brought by His FatherBible World
9:16Mark 9:16
And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?
The setting is the morning after the night on the mount of transfiguration, as Jesus descends with His three companions to the plain where the people are already searching for Him. Just before this He charges the three to tell the vision to no one until the Son of man is risen from the dead, because the revelation is to be pondered in their own hearts and not published where it would excite only ridicule or idle wonder, and even the nine apostles would not understand the scene until after the resurrection. Even the three favored disciples are slow of comprehension, questioning among themselves what the rising from the dead should mean yet asking Jesus no explanation, because His words about the future have filled them with sorrow they do not want to face.
On arriving He finds the scene of the disciples' failed attempt to cast out the evil spirit or demon from the boy, with the scribes disputing and questioning with the disciples. The scribes had been using that failure to humiliate the disciples and to challenge Jesus. In the verse He asks the scribes what they were disputing with the disciples, thereby drawing attention to their challenge and bringing the dispute into the open. When He arrives their bold voices fall silent. The question comes before He addresses the father and the afflicted child.
In this encounter after coming down from the mountain He meets the demon-afflicted boy or child and restores him to his father, freeing him from the demon's power. The boy's restoration is an object lesson of redemption, showing Christ stooping from glory to save the lost. The movement from transfiguration on the mount to the plain shows people enslaved by Satan needing deliverance through faith and prayer. After Jesus delivers the boy, the scribes are crestfallen and defeated and turn away sullenly.
The setting is the morning after the night on the mount of transfiguration, as Jesus descends with His three companions to the plain where the people are already searching for Him. Just before this He charges the three to tell the vision to no one until the Son of man is risen from the dead, because the revelation is to be pondered in their own hearts and not published where it would excite only ridicule or idle wonder, and even the nine apostles would not understand the scene until after the resurrection. Even the three favored disciples are slow of comprehension, questioning among themselves what the rising from the dead should mean yet asking Jesus no explanation, because His words about the future have filled them with sorrow they do not want to face.
On arriving He finds the scene of the disciples' failed attempt to cast out the evil spirit or demon from the boy, with the scribes disputing and questioning with the disciples. The scribes had been using that failure to humiliate the disciples and to challenge Jesus. In the verse He asks the scribes what they were disputing with the disciples, thereby drawing attention to their challenge and bringing the dispute into the open. When He arrives their bold voices fall silent. The question comes before He addresses the father and the afflicted child.
In this encounter after coming down from the mountain He meets the demon-afflicted boy or child and restores him to his father, freeing him from the demon's power. The boy's restoration is an object lesson of redemption, showing Christ stooping from glory to save the lost. The movement from transfiguration on the mount to the plain shows people enslaved by Satan needing deliverance through faith and prayer. After Jesus delivers the boy, the scribes are crestfallen and defeated and turn away sullenly.