Mark 9:8 I. When Jesus thus revealed Himself on the Mount of Transfiguration, He may be said to have taken, by anticipation, so much of that Divine glory with which He is now adorned, in heaven, as would call forth the wonder and admiration, without confounding the faculties, of the beholders. II.... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 9:19 Christ's Lament over Faithlessness. I. The first thing that seems to be in this lament is not anger, but a very distinct and very pathetic expression of Christ's infinite pain, because of man's faithlessness. The element of personal sorrow is most obvious here. All that men have ever fel... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 9:23 Christ's "If" answered and more than answered the man's "if." The man had said, "if thou canst do anything"; Christ reversed it and showed where the real contingency lay. "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." And why are all things possible to him that be... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 9:23 Present Phases of Unbelief. I. Unbelief may have its rise and find occasion in three directions the external world, man, and the nature of Christianity itself. One meets constantly the words Agnosticism and Positivism, and these words indicate the channel in which unbelief at present flo... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 9:24 The transfiguration marks, so it seems, a crisis in our blessed Lord's history. It was a great out-shining of the glory of God in the sacred Humanity, permitted alike for the strengthening of the Son for His bitter passion, and for the more confirmation of the staggering faith of the holy... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 9:33 The child in the midst. Note: I. That our Lord's lesson lay, not in the humanity, but in the childhood of the child. The disciples had been disputing who should be the greatest, and the Lord wanted to show them that such a dispute had nothing to do with the way things went in His kingdom... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 9:38 Persons who choose their religion for themselves, or who wander about from one communion of Christians to another at their will, often urge upon us who wish to be disciples of the faith, which was once delivered to the saints, this passage of Scripture. They argue that as the Apostles wer... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 9:43 These are words from the lips of Christ; what do they mean? They were evidently spoken in a very serious and solemn mood, and were evidently intended to represent a very serious and solemn reality. I. Now we know what the popular opinion is, concerning the hell of which Christ speaks, and... [ Continue Reading ]