And going forth from thence they went through Galilee; and he would not that any one knew it;
Jesus has come down from the mountain where His appearance was changed, and He has healed a boy with an unclean spirit. Now He crosses Galilee unnoticed — so why the silence, and what was He telling His disciples in private?
Writers connect the secrecy to a change in the whole direction of His ministry.
The glory of the Kingdom had been revealed. The Lord had shown His power and grace to bring in the blessings of the Kingdom. All this only brought out the unbelief of the world, and the failure of His own people to use the power that was among them. His departure was at hand, and the time for all public appeal to the nation, as a whole, had gone by. He will still give grace to individual need, but the time for Him to reign had not yet come. So, as He went through the land, "He did not want anyone to know."
This was not the first time He had withdrawn. One writer traces a settled habit in Mark, and reads it as the mark of a servant who took even rejection from the hand of the God who sent Him.
This willing withdrawal shows us the amazing perfection of this Servant of God. He accepted the rebuffs to His service so meekly. Though they came directly from the men of Israel, He saw the hand of His God above them all. He bowed to them therefore, as to the will of Him that sent Him... He showed the same spirit again later, when the crucifixion was even closer. We read that the Lord and His disciples "passed through Galilee," and "He did not want anyone to know."
The same habit runs through the whole Gospel. He never chased a crowd: "Popularity He did not seek... Popular favour, so alluring to men, did not divert Him from His mission" (C. E. Stuart).
The silence had a purpose. Verse 30 exists to make room for verse 31.
Passing through Galilee, He wants to draw no attention to them, because He had serious instructions that needed the full attention of His disciples. He had told them this before (Ch. 8:31), but He wants to impress it deeply on them: He would be delivered into the hands of men, be killed, and rise again on the third day. Apart from the crowd they surely ought to have taken this to heart.
The wording of this second announcement differs from the first. Earlier He had named the elders and those with them. Now He speaks more widely.
Passing through Galilee on His way to Capernaum, His own city, He announces His coming death to His disciples again (vv. 31-32). In 8:31 He had spoken of His rejection by the elders and the rest. Now He speaks of men, which includes Gentiles.
That widening is the point of the title He uses of Himself here. One writer sets the two rejections side by side:
The Lord was rejected (1) as Christ by the Jews; (2) as Son of Man by the Gentiles as well.
He taught them plainly, and they still did not take it in. One writer finds the reason in the hearers, not in the teaching.
At first sight it is strange, and yet how common it is — this inability to take in the words of Jesus! What causes it? Self unjudged. They were ashamed to let the Lord know what the true reason was; but the Lord brings it out... No wonder there was little power in the presence of Satan; no wonder there was little understanding in the presence of Jesus. There was a dead weight behind — this spirit of thinking of themselves.
Instead of asking Him, they talked among themselves. One writer turns that on us: "How often, like the disciples, when difficulties arise, we look for an answer by discussing it 'one with another' instead of turning to Christ, our Head, Who has all wisdom" (Hamilton Smith).
after_note: DELETE
- Withdrawn — The public appeal to the nation was over. He now travels unknown and gives grace to needs one by one.
- Willing — This withdrawal is not defeat but obedience. He takes the rebuffs to His service as the will of the One who sent Him.
- Private — The quiet is cleared ground for teaching. Away from the crowd, the disciples had His full attention and He had theirs.
- Widening — "Into the hands of men" reaches past the leaders named in 8:31. He was rejected as Christ by the Jews, and as Son of Man by the Gentiles too.
- Deaf — They heard plain words and understood nothing. Self went unjudged. The cure was to ask Him, and they were afraid to.
for he taught his disciples and said to them, The Son of man is delivered into men's hands, and they shall kill him; and having been killed, after three days he shall rise again.
Jesus again tells His disciples what is coming, away from the crowds, on a quiet road through Galilee. The words are simple. Yet the disciples walk away confused and silent. Why did such plain speech fail to land?
One writer links this quiet journey to where the Lord now stood with the nation, and to what His death was about to become.
The Lord had revealed the glory of the kingdom. He had shown His power and grace to bring in the kingdom's blessings. All this only brought out the unbelief of the world, and the failure of His own to use the power among them. His departure was near, and the time for all public appeal to the nation as a whole had gone by. So, as He went through the land, He did not want anyone to know it. The sin of man was about to rise to its height in killing the Son of Man. But this would become the occasion of showing the mighty power of Christ over sin, and Satan, and death, by rising from the dead.
The wording is striking: the Son of Man, handed over into the hands of men. One writer draws out the terrible closeness of those two words.
Before, He taught them that the Son of Man would suffer and be treated as nothing. Here He goes further: He would be handed over by the very people He was dealing with... He took the title Son of Man in love, and He is the Head and Glory of man. Yet those with whom He came into direct, divine association hand Him over into the hands of men — men whose nature He had taken in love, and for their glory — and they would kill Him... But being killed — and here was the wonderful purpose of love and glory that allowed it — being killed, He would rise again, putting away the sin, and conquering death.
Who were these men? The answer widens the rejection beyond Israel.
The men into whose hands the Lord would be betrayed were Gentiles... The Jews rejected Him as Christ; the Gentiles rejected Him as Son of Man as well.
They did not understand. One writer finds the cause not in the words but in the hearers. What happened next in the house at Capernaum gives the proof.
At first sight how strange, yet how common, is this inability to enter into the words of Jesus! What causes it? Self unjudged. They were ashamed to let the Lord know the true reason, but the Lord brings it out. In the house at Capernaum He asked them what they had been arguing about along the way. They kept quiet, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. No wonder there was little power in the presence of Satan; no wonder there was little understanding in the presence of Jesus.
Another writer gives a second reason. The two do not clash. One looks at the disciples' hearts; the other looks at God's timing.
True, the Lord had taught them again and again that He must die, and that on the third day He would rise again. But Mark 9:10, 31, 32, and many other Scriptures show that they did not grasp what His words meant. The Spirit of God had not yet come. As many of us know from experience, until He opens the divine Word to us, we may hear it and read it often without the slightest understanding of its real meaning and application. We should also remember that rising from among the dead, which is how Mark 9:10 should be translated, was a completely new thing. It was a new revelation to the disciples, and something they were wholly unprepared for.
They did not understand, and they did not ask. One writer points ahead to what these men would later become. He also turns their silence into a question for us.
Away from the crowd they should have taken this to heart. But again they had no grasp of what He was saying, no doubt because their minds were full of very different thoughts. Later these facts would give them the deepest joy and courage in bearing witness to Him (Acts 4:33). For now, though, they could not believe that He was going to be killed... However, though they did not understand His words, they were afraid to ask Him what they meant. Do we too fail to understand because we do not ask?
- Private. The time of public appeal to the nation was over. He passed through Galilee unnoticed, so His disciples alone would hear what mattered most.
- Delivered. Those He came to in love handed Him over to men whose nature He had taken. The Jews rejected Him as Christ; the Gentiles rejected Him as Son of Man.
- Killed. Human sin rose to its height in this act, and God's love permitted it.
- Risen. That same death became the occasion for showing His power. He rose again, putting away sin and conquering death.
- Missed. They understood none of it. Self was unjudged, and they were arguing over who was greatest. The cure was to ask Him — and they were afraid to.
But they understood not the saying, and feared to ask him.
The Lord has just told His disciples for the second time that men will kill Him and that He will rise again. Mark then records two failures in them: they missed what He said, and they were too afraid to ask.
This was not the first announcement, and the wording had changed:
As He passed through Galilee on His way to Capernaum, His own city, He announced His coming death to His disciples again (verses 31-32). In 8:31 He had spoken of His rejection by the elders and others. Now He spoke of men, which includes Gentiles. "But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask Him."
One writer points to something worse than a lack of strength:
Sadly, what we have to admit is not a lack of power, but how little we enter into His mind. The mind of the flesh can think and talk of glory here on earth. But the cross breaks in — neither understood nor welcome.
Their silence had a cause. One writer points to what the disciples had been arguing about on the road:
But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask Him. The reason is easy to see. Other thoughts filled their minds. They had been arguing along the way about who was the greatest, and they were ashamed to admit it to the Lord.
Another writer puts the same failure in one line — the subject itself was outside anything they had room for:
They did not understand, and were afraid to ask Him. The cross was foreign to them. Other thoughts occupied their hearts.
One writer treats the second clause as a separate problem. Not understanding is one thing. Not taking the difficulty to Christ is another:
Further, behind the ignorance of the flesh there is the distrust of the flesh. The disciples were not only ignorant. We also read that they "were afraid to ask Him." They lacked the confidence in Christ that would have led them to bring their difficulties to Christ. Sadly, we are often like Peter in the Upper Room, not near enough to the Lord to tell Him all our difficulties. If, like John, we were resting in His love, how easy it would be to take all our hard questions to Him.
The same writer sets this failure beside the one just before it:
They lacked the spiritual understanding to grasp the truth of the resurrection. And they "were afraid to ask Him." With the man who had an evil spirit, their faith was too weak to use the power of Christ. Now their confidence is too small to use the wisdom in Christ. How often we are like the disciples. When difficulties arise, we look for an answer by discussing them "one with another," instead of turning to Christ, our Head, who has all wisdom.
Dodging a hard word has a price. The truth they dodged was the one they would later preach:
There is no comment on it, except that "they did not understand and were afraid to ask Him." How many things we dodge in this way. In doing so we lose, as far as we can, our own best blessings. Soon this death and resurrection will be the substance of the gospel that they preach everywhere. Beyond that, new glories will unfold in it. Christians will learn, and rejoice to know, that they are dead and risen with Christ.
One writer traces their slowness — and ours — to the Spirit who had not yet come:
It is true that the Lord had taught them again and again that He had to die, and that on the third day He would rise again. But Mark 9:10, 31, 32, and many other scriptures show that they did not grasp the meaning of His words. The Spirit of God had not yet come. As many of us know from experience, until He opens up God's Word to us, we may hear and read it often without the slightest understanding of what it really means or how it applies. It should also be kept in mind that "rising from among the dead," as Mark 9:10 should be translated, was a completely new thing to them — a new revelation, and something they were entirely unprepared for.
- Told — He told them again and again that He would die and rise; what they lacked was not information but a heart open to it.
- Afraid — Two failures sit side by side: they did not understand, and they would not bring the difficulty to Him.
- Full — Minds busy with who was greatest had no room for a cross; other thoughts crowded out His words.
- Distrust — Behind not understanding lies distrust. Stay near His love, and hard questions become easy to ask.
- Later — The truth they dodged became the gospel they preached, once the Spirit opened it to them.