Corona Chronicles - Crown of Thorns

Here we are. Again, in Coronor Chronicles. We've just seen Jesus in Mark chapter 9, go up a hill, the mount of transfiguration as it's called, and he met with Moses and Elijah. And he only had a few of his disciples with him. Now he's come down into the valley, and there's some dark things going on here.

So we pick up the story in verse 14 of Mark 9. When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law were arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, They were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. What are you arguing with them about he asked? A man the crowd answered teacher I brought you my son who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of his speech.

Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not. You unbelieving generation, Jesus replied, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?

Bring the boy to me. That's only part of the story. Obviously, we're gonna read the rest of that in the next sessions. But Yeah. Yeah.

That's right. And I think if we were to agree, this passage with the passage that we were looking at last week, that the contrast between the 2 scenes would be even more pronounced. Because in the mount of transfiguration, Jesus gone up this mountain. Elijah hypnosis has appeared, and Jesus has appeared and been transfigured in all of his glory. And a few of the disciples have the privilege of seeing that.

But it's like a little foretaste of heaven, seeing almost like the glorified Christ. And it's it's been a remarkable experience. But then you can trust that with what's going on in the valley. And when we come down the mountains, we see that evil and unbelief are running Brian basically when Jesus has been up the mountain. And it may be that there is something, as we've just looked about most, last week.

Something in here about Mount Sinai when when Moses went up the mountain, and and the glory of the lord came and rested upon the top of the mountain, and he was privileged to see that. But then he goes down, what does he find? Well, just so soon after being redeemed, they've traded the God of Israel for an idol and even an unbeliever running riot in the rally. So Jesus has walked back down into this scene. Yeah.

And I I think it's 1 of the things that we will see this in the next session a bit more. He is teaching his disciples, isn't he about what real Christian ministry is in this world. And in a sense, the world is the valley, isn't it? It's the valley of dark, and all of the stuff you've just said of evil and unbelief. And how do you administer?

How do you be a Jesus minister in the valley? And so, there's a lot of that stuff going on here. But, this is the world we're in. As you say, this is the world we're in, and this is the world we've got to minister to. And there's this, there's the sort of religious leaders arguing with disciples.

Well, that's not ministry. And there's a real man who has a real issue with his son. And it's broken him. It's ruined his life. And, I mean, some people will sort of go, oh, this is stupid disciples, people of the first century that didn't understand the epaulet.

Which would be wrong. This isn't really a demon possessed boy. It's a bloke who's got epilepsy and he needs the right drug to sort it out. It's Well, that would make Jesus a liar, because Jesus sees this as a satanic thing, doesn't it? Yeah.

He does. Yeah. And I think that's that's evident even in the boy's condition. So, you can tell that what we're dealing with here is not just you know, a physical condition like epilepsy. But there is something evil about this spirit, which is possessing this boy and you can see what it does to him in verse 18, it seizes him, throws him.

He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth becomes rigid. Later on, in this story, we'll see it in the next session. You know, it even tries to throw him into fire. So the spirit that has possessed this boy is is is doing what Satan does, which is murder. He wants to destroy life and end life.

Bring bring ruination really to people's lives. And so there's clearly more going on than just that physical element. But And as you say, when Jesus comes down, he walks straight into an argument. And so the crowds are kind of using this boy as a discussion point, you know, to kind of you know, hammer out what they believe and what they ought to do about it. And so Jesus is It's like walking into a room full of kids who are arguing and you've got to try and work out.

Who's done what and who's offended how to put things right. And Jesus has come into that sort of infantile situation, really. Yeah. But with this very, very serious evil in in that has taken place. And I I mean, it's a sad thing, isn't it?

If the followers of Jesus are arguing about little bits and bobs while the world is in Yeah, in darkness and leaves. Our job is to take Jesus, who's the only 1 that can do a year here into the situation of evil. And, I mean, later on, it's called the evil spirit has something to do with deafness and muteness. Yeah. Mute this.

Yeah. And it's also called a impure So it's a very good picture of our world, isn't it? What is our world? It's dark, it's confused. You have religious people arguing about nonsense, that doesn't really touch people's lives.

You've got this kid that's just possessed, the Dan is out of his mind. You know, what do I do? He's come to the right place, and yet no one's helping him. And so Jesus is exasperated, isn't it? He spent, you know, these 8 chapters teaching his disciples, and it's like, oh, goodness.

What a what an unbelieving generation. Don't you know that it's me who could do this? Yeah. I think that's right. It's it's what in 1 sense, it's the surprise of verse 19.

We're we're we're we're gonna we're gonna leave it today. But, yeah, the the Jesus has just had the condition of this boy explained to him. And yet what frustrates him and exasperates him the word you used. It is the unbelief on display here. So, he doesn't say tell me more about this boy, you know, how that, you know, let's you know, of course, he feels a deep concern for the boy himself.

But the point of this, as we said right at the beginning, is how are we gonna do Christian ministry in this dark world And if we're gonna do it independently of the Christ, then that's gonna that's gonna be a problem. And it's a frustrating thing, Jesus. Yes. And and it's such a problem. That we're we'll ignore the problems of this wicked world and start arguing about ourselves over other things.

So Well, we're gonna see what happens in the next section.