Jesus: More Than Just a Man – He is God

What does Mark 9:2-29 tell us about Jesus?
First, it tells us that Jesus is divine – or at least more than just a mortal man. While walking down the mountain, He asked the disciples not to tell anyone about the transfiguration that had just happened — certainly not an everyday event! He had requested several times for certain deeds not to be proclaimed (i.e. Mk 7:36, Mt 8:4, etc.). Probably for several reasons, but the first thing that comes to my mind is for His own safety. His life was in constant danger, and every time He alluded to His divinity, the people wanted to throw Him off a cliff or started picking up stones. But it was not yet His time. Secondly, the talk of resurrection (v. 9:9) shows that Jesus is more than an angel (or other supernatural being), but the actual Messiah, Himself! Jesus alluded to the fact that John the Baptist was the Elijah predicted to precede Him, further demonstrating that He is nothing less than the predicted Messiah (vv.
12-13).

The central message:

As mentioned, above, clearly one central message of these verses and the surrounding context is Jesus’ Divinity.
If we include the verses before and after (Mk. 9:2-29), it is a panorama or
snapshot of Jesus’ history. The transfiguration shows Jesus in His glory before the world was (vv. 2-12); then He came down among men (vv. 9-13) to teach and to do for us what we could not do for ourselves (vv. 14-29). It spoke of His pending resurrection (v.9). And by casting out the demon that the disciples could not (vv.14-27), He displayed His dominion over demons and superiority to man.

It also shows that we are completely blind and powerless without Jesus:

a.) Peter is completely bewildered at the transfiguration.
b.) The apostles cannot grasp the concept of the coming resurrection.
c.) The other disciples are unable to cast out the demon, and
d.) There were possibly still questions in their minds concerning Jesus’ Messiah-ship as well. For instance, it had been prophesied that Elijah would precede the Messiah. So they may have been politely asking: “Ok, so if you are the Messiah, where is Elijah?” (v. 11)