Verse 9
Jesus again commanded secrecy (cf. Mark 1:34; Mark 1:43-44; Mark 3:11-12; Mark 5:43; Mark 7:36; Mark 8:30). William Wrede developed the view that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah and that the early church originated that idea. [Note: William Wrede, The Messianic Secret.] Mark, he argued, invented incidents in which Jesus commanded secrecy about His messiahship to resolve this contradiction. Most conservative scholars have rejected this theory because the evidence for Jesus’ messiahship is pervasive in all the Gospels.
If the multitudes heard about this demonstration of Jesus’ glory, it would only fuel the fires of popular messianic expectation that created pressure for Jesus to depart from God’s will. This is the last command to maintain secrecy in this Gospel. It is also the only one with a time limit. The people the disciples would tell the transfiguration story to would only understand it after Jesus arose from the dead. With His resurrection behind them, they could appreciate the fact that He would return in glory to establish the messianic kingdom.
Be the first to react on this!
