171 And after six days Jesus takes with him Peter, and James, and John, his brother, and makes them go up with him into a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was changed in form before them; and his face was shining like the sun, and his clothing became white as light. 3 And Moses and Elijah came before their eyes, talking with him. 4 And Peter made answer and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if you will let me, I will make here three tents, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 5 While he was still talking, a bright cloud came over them: and a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased; give ear to him. 6 And at these words the disciples went down on their faces in great fear. 7 And Jesus came and put his hand on them and said, Get up and have no fear. 8 And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, but Jesus only. 9 And when they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus gave them orders, saying, Let no man have word of what you have seen, till the Son of man has come again from the dead. 10 And his disciples, questioning him, said, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first? 11 And in answer he said, Elijah truly has to come and put all things right: 12 But I say to you that Elijah has come, and they had no knowledge of him, but did to him whatever they were pleased to do; the same will the Son of man undergo at their hands. 13 Then the disciples saw that he was talking to them of John the Baptist.
14 And when they came to the people, a man went down on his knees to him, saying, 15 Lord have mercy on my son: for he is off his head, and is in great pain; and frequently he goes falling into the fire, and frequently into the water. 16 And I took him to your disciples, and they were not able to make him well. 17 And Jesus, answering, said, O false and foolish generation, how long will I be with you? how long will I put up with you? let him come here to me. 18 And Jesus gave orders to the unclean spirit, and it went out of him: and the boy was made well from that hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, Why were we not able to send it out? 20 And he says to them, Because of your little faith: for truly I say to you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Be moved from this place to that; and it will be moved; and nothing will be impossible to you. 21 []
22 And while they were going about in Galilee, Jesus said to them, The Son of man will be given up into the hands of men; 23 And they will put him to death, and the third day he will come again from the dead. And they were very sad.
24 And when they had come to Capernaum, those who took the Temple tax came to Peter and said, Does not your master make payment of the Temple tax? 25 He says, Yes. And when he came into the house, Jesus said to him, What is your opinion, Simon? from whom do the kings of the earth get payment or tax? from their sons or from other people? 26 And when he said, From other people, Jesus said to him, Then are the sons free. 27 But, so that we may not be a cause of trouble to them, go to the sea, and let down a hook, and take the first fish which comes up; and in his mouth you will see a bit of money: take that, and give it to them for me and you.
91 And he said to them, Truly I say to you, There are some here who will have no taste of death till they see the kingdom of God come with power.
2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and made them go up with him into a high mountain by themselves: and he was changed in form before them: 3 And his clothing became shining, very white, as no cleaner on earth would make it. 4 And there came before them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tents; one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 6 Because he was not certain what to say, for they were in great fear. 7 And a cloud came over them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my dearly loved Son, give ear to him. 8 And suddenly looking round about, they saw no one any longer, but Jesus only with themselves. 9 And while they were coming down from the mountain, he gave them orders not to give word to any man of the things they had seen, till the Son of man had come back from the dead. 10 And they kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the coming back from the dead might be. 11 And they put a question to him, saying, Why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first? 12 And he said to them, Truly, Elijah does come first, and puts all things in order; and how is it said in the Writings that the Son of man will go through much sorrow and be made as nothing? 13 But I say to you that Elijah has come, and they have done to him whatever they were pleased to do, even as the Writings say about him.
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great mass of people about them, and scribes questioning them. 15 And straight away all the people, when they saw him, were full of wonder, and running to him, gave him worship. 16 And he said, What are you questioning them about? 17 And one of the number said to him in answer, Master, I came to you with my son, who has in him a spirit which takes away his power of talking; 18 And wherever it takes him, it puts him down violently, streaming at the lips and twisted with pain; and his strength goes from him; and I made a request to your disciples to send it out, and they were not able. 19 And he said to them in answer, O generation without faith, how long will I have to be with you? how long will I put up with you? let him come to me. 20 And they took him to him: and when he saw him, the spirit in him straight away became violent; and he went down on the earth, rolling about and streaming at the lips. 21 And Jesus questioning the father said, How long has he been like this? And he said, From a child. 22 And frequently it has sent him into the fire and into the water, for his destruction; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us, and give us help. 23 And Jesus said to him, If you are able! All things are possible to him who has faith. 24 Straight away the father of the child gave a cry, saying, I have faith; make my feeble faith stronger. 25 And when Jesus saw that the people came running together, he gave orders to the unclean spirit, saying to him, You, spirit, who are the cause of his loss of voice and hearing, I say to you, come out of him, and never again go into him. 26 And after crying out and shaking him violently, it came out: and the child became like one dead; so that most of them said, He is dead. 27 But Jesus took him by the hand, lifting him up; and he got up. 28 And when he had gone into the house, his disciples said to him privately, Why were we unable to send it out? 29 And he said to them, Nothing will make this sort come out but prayer.
30 And they went out from there, through Galilee; and it was his desire that no man might have knowledge of it; 31 For he was giving his disciples teaching, and saying to them, The Son of man is given up into the hands of men, and they will put him to death; and when he is dead, after three days he will come back from the dead. 32 But the saying was not clear to them, and they were in fear of questioning him about it.
33 And they came to Capernaum: and when he was in the house, he put the question to them, What were you talking about on the way? 34 But they said nothing: because they had had an argument between themselves on the way, about who was the greatest. 35 And seating himself, he made the twelve come to him; and he said to them, If any man has the desire to be first, he will be last of all and servant of all. 36 And he took a little child, and put him in the middle of them; and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 Whoever will give honour to one such little child in my name, gives honour to me: and whoever gives honour to me, gives honour not to me, but to him who sent me.
38 John said to him, Master, we saw one driving out evil spirits in your name: and we said that he might not, because he is not one of us. 39 But Jesus said, Say not so: for there is no man who will do a great work in my name, and be able at the same time to say evil of me. 40 He who is not against us is for us.
41 Whoever gives you a cup of water, because you are Christ's, truly I say to you, he will in no way be without his reward.
42 And whoever is a cause of trouble to one of these little ones who have faith in me, it would be better for him if a great stone was put round his neck and he was dropped into the sea. 43 And if your hand is a cause of trouble to you, let it be cut off; it is better for you to go into life with one hand than to have two hands and go into hell, into the eternal fire. 44 [] 45 And if your foot is a cause of trouble to you, let it be cut off: it is better for you to go into life with one foot than to have two feet and go into hell. 46 [] 47 And if your eye is a cause of trouble to you, take it out: it is better for you to go into the kingdom of God with one eye than, having two eyes, to go into hell, 48 Where their worm is ever living and the fire is not put out. 49 Everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if the taste goes from it, how will you make it salt again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another.
28 And about eight days after he had said these things, he took Peter and John and James with him and went up into the mountain for prayer. 29 And while he was in prayer, his face was changed and his clothing became white and shining. 30 And two men, Moses and Elijah, were talking with him; 31 Who were seen in glory and were talking of his death which was about to take place in Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were overcome with sleep: but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who were with him. 33 And when they were about to go away from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah: having no knowledge of what he was saying. 34 And while he said these things, the shade of a cloud came over them, and they were full of fear when they went into the cloud. 35 And there was a voice from the cloud saying, This is my Son, the man of my selection; give ear to him. 36 And after the voice was gone they saw that Jesus was by himself. And they kept quiet, and said nothing at that time to anyone of the things which they had seen.
37 And on the day after, when they came down from the mountain, a great band of people came to him. 38 And a man from among them, crying out, said, Master, I make a request to you, give a thought to my son, for he is my only child: 39 And see, a spirit takes him, and suddenly he gives a cry, twisted in pain and streaming at the lips, and when it goes away from him at last, he is marked as from blows. 40 And I made a request to your disciples to send it out of him, but they were not able to do it. 41 And Jesus said, O generation without faith and false in heart, how long will I have to be with you and put up with you? let your son come here. 42 And while he was coming, he was pushed violently down and twisted by the evil spirit. But Jesus gave sharp orders to the unclean spirit, and made the boy well, and gave him back to his father.
43 And they were full of wonder at the great power of God. But while they were all wondering at all the things which he did, he said to his disciples,
44 Let these words go deep into your ears, for the Son of man will be given up into the hands of men. 45 But this saying was not clear to them and its sense was kept secret from them so that they were not able to see it: and they had fear of questioning him about it.
46 Now there was a discussion among them about which of them would be the greatest. 47 But when Jesus saw the reasoning of their hearts, he took a small child and put him by his side, 48 And said to them, Whoever gives honour to this child in my name, gives honour to me: and whoever gives honour to me, gives honour to him who sent me: for whoever is least among you all, that man is great.
49 And John, answering, said, Master, we saw a man driving out evil spirits in your name, and we did not let him do it, because he was not one of us. 50 But Jesus said to him, Let him do it, for he who is not against you is for you.
51 And it came about that when the days were near for him to be taken up, his face was turned to go to Jerusalem, 52 And he sent men before: and they came to a small town of Samaria to make ready for him. 53 But they would not have him there, because he was clearly going to Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, may we send fire from heaven and put an end to them? 55 But turning round he said sharp words to them. 56 And they went to another small town.
57 And when they were on the way, a certain man said to him, I will come after you wherever you go. 58 And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have resting-places, but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head. 59 And he said to another, Come after me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father. 60 But he said to him, Let the dead take care of their dead; it is for you to go and give news of the kingdom of God. 61 And another man said, I will come with you, Lord, but first let me say a last good-day to those who are at my house. 62 But Jesus said, No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is good enough for the kingdom of God.
(Read Luke 9:28-36)
Christ's transfiguration was a specimen of that glory in which he will come to judge the world; and was an encouragement to his disciples to suffer for him. Prayer is a transfiguring, transforming duty, which makes the face to shine. Our Lord Jesus, even in his transfiguration, was willing to speak concerning his death and sufferings. In our greatest glories on earth, let us remember that in this world we have no continuing city. What need we have to pray to God for quickening grace, to make us lively! Yet that the disciples might be witnesses of this sign from heaven, after awhile they became awake, so that they were able to give a full account of what passed. But those know not what they say, that talk of making tabernacles on earth for glorified saints in heaven.
(Read Luke 9:37-42)
How deplorable the case of this child! He was under the power of an evil spirit. Disease of that nature are more frightful than such as arise merely from natural causes. What mischief Satan does where he gets possession! But happy those that have access to Christ! He can do that for us which his disciples cannot. A word from Christ healed the child; and when our children recover from sickness, it is comfortable to receive them as healed by the hand of Christ.
(Read Luke 9:43-50)
This prediction of Christ's sufferings was plain enough, but the disciples would not understand it, because it agreed not with their notions. A little child is the emblem by which Christ teaches us simplicity and humility. What greater honour can any man attain to in this world, than to be received by men as a messenger of God and Christ; and to have God and Christ own themselves received and welcomed in him! If ever any society of Christians in this world, had reason to silence those not of their own communion, the twelve disciples at this time had; yet Christ warned them not to do the like again. Those may be found faithful followers of Christ, and may be accepted of him, who do not follow with us.
(Read Luke 9:51-56)
The disciples did not consider that the conduct of the Samaritans was rather the effect of national prejudices and bigotry, than of enmity to the word and worship of God; and through they refused to receive Christ and his disciples, they did not ill use or injure them, so that the case was widely different from that of Ahaziah and Elijah. Nor were they aware that the gospel dispensation was to be marked by miracles of mercy. But above all, they were ignorant of the prevailing motives of their own hearts, which were pride and carnal ambition. Of this our Lord warned them. It is easy for us to say, Come, see our zeal for the Lord! and to think we are very faithful in his cause, when we are seeking our own objects, and even doing harm instead of good to others.
(Read Luke 9:57-62)
Here is one that is forward to follow Christ, but seems to have been hasty and rash, and not to have counted the cost. If we mean to follow Christ, we must lay aside the thoughts of great things in the world. Let us not try to join the profession of Christianity, with seeking after worldly advantages. Here is another that seems resolved to follow Christ, but he begs a short delay. To this man Christ first gave the call; he said to him, Follow me. Religion teaches us to be kind and good, to show piety at home, and to requite our parents; but we must not make these an excuse for neglecting our duty to God. Here is another that is willing to follow Christ, but he must have a little time to talk with his friends about it, and to set in order his household affairs, and give directions concerning them. He seemed to have worldly concerns more upon his heart than he ought to have, and he was willing to enter into a temptation leading him from his purpose of following Christ. No one can do any business in a proper manner, if he is attending to other things. Those who begin with the work of God, must resolve to go on, or they will make nothing of it. Looking back, leads to drawing back, and drawing back is to perdition. He only that endures to the end shall be saved.
