Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 287
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Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high
mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly
bleach could ever make them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began
talking with Jesus.
Peter exclaimed, “Rabbi, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make
three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they
were all terrified.
Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said,
“This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, when they looked
around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus with them.
As they went back down the mountain, he told them not to tell anyone
what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they
kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what he meant by
“rising from the dead.”
Then they asked him, “Why do the teachers of religious law insist that
Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?”
Jesus responded, “Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready.
Yet why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and
be treated with utter contempt? But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and
they chose to abuse him, just as the Scriptures predicted.”
When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with
them. When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and
they ran to greet him.
“What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked.
One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my
son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let
him talk. And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the
ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.
So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”
Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you?
How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the
child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and
foaming at the mouth.
“How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.
He replied, “Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into
the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if
you can.”
