The Promise of the Kingdom's Coming
Then Jesus looked directly at his followers and made them a solemn promise. "I'm telling you the absolute truth," he said. "Some of you standing right here with me will still be alive when you see God's kingdom come in all its power."
The Transfiguration
Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone. There, right before their eyes, Jesus was completely transformed. His clothes became dazzling white—whiter and brighter than anything any person on earth could ever make them, no matter how hard they tried to bleach them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared and stood there talking with Jesus. Peter, not knowing what to do or say, blurted out to Jesus, "Teacher, this is wonderful that we're here! Let us build three shelters—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He said this because all three of them were absolutely terrified and he didn't know what else to say. Then a cloud came and covered them all, and from the cloud came a voice saying, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!" Suddenly, when they looked around again, they saw no one there with them except Jesus. As they were walking back down the mountain, Jesus warned them not to tell anyone what they had just seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept quiet about it, but among themselves they kept talking about what it could possibly mean to rise from the dead. They asked Jesus, "Why do the religious teachers say that Elijah has to come first?" Jesus answered them, "Elijah does come first, and he sets everything right again. But then why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected by people? I'm telling you the truth—Elijah has already come, and people did whatever they wanted to him, just like the Scriptures said would happen to him."
The Healing of a Boy with an Unclean Spirit
When Jesus and the three disciples came down from the mountain, they found the other disciples surrounded by a large crowd. Religious teachers were arguing with them about something. The moment everyone saw Jesus approaching, they were amazed and immediately ran to welcome him. "What are you arguing about?" Jesus asked them. A man from the crowd stepped forward and answered, "Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has an evil spirit that won't let him speak. Whenever this spirit takes control of him, it throws him down violently. He foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and his whole body goes stiff. I begged your disciples to force the spirit out, but they couldn't do it." Jesus responded with frustration, "You people have so little faith! How much longer do I have to stay with you? How much longer must I put up with this? Bring the boy here to me." They brought the boy forward. The instant the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a terrible fit. He collapsed on the ground, rolling back and forth and foaming at the mouth. Jesus turned to the father and asked, "How long has he been like this?" "Since he was very small," the father replied. "This spirit has often thrown him into fire or into water, trying to destroy him. If you have any power to help us, please take pity on us and do something." Jesus repeated the man's words back to him: "If I have any power? Everything is possible for someone who truly believes!" Right away the father cried out, "I do believe! But help me believe even more!" Jesus saw that more people were running toward them to see what was happening. He spoke sternly to the evil spirit: "You spirit that makes him deaf and unable to speak, I order you to come out of this boy and never go back into him again!" The spirit let out a shriek and threw the boy into one final, violent convulsion before leaving him. The child lay so still and lifeless that many people said, "He's dead." But Jesus reached down, took the boy's hand, and lifted him up. The boy stood on his feet, completely healed. Later, when Jesus had gone inside a house, his disciples came to him privately and asked, "Why weren't we able to force that spirit out?" Jesus told them, "This particular kind of evil spirit can only be driven out through prayer."
The Second Prediction of Jesus' Death
From there, Jesus and his disciples continued traveling through Galilee. Jesus didn't want anyone to know they were passing through, because he was focused on teaching his disciples something very important. He told them, "The Son of Man is going to be handed over to other people. They will kill him. But three days later, he will come back to life." The disciples didn't understand what Jesus meant when he said this. They were confused and scared, so they didn't dare ask him to explain what he was talking about.
Who Is the Greatest?
When they arrived in Capernaum, Jesus went into the house and asked his disciples, "What were you talking about while we were walking?" The disciples stayed quiet because they felt embarrassed. On the road, they had been arguing with each other about which one of them was the most important. Jesus sat down and called his twelve disciples to gather around him. He told them, "If anyone wants to be first place, he must put himself in last place and serve everyone else." Then Jesus brought a small child over and had the child stand in the middle of the group. He picked up the child and held him in his arms while he spoke to them. "When you welcome a little child like this one because you belong to me, you are really welcoming me. And when you welcome me, you are not just welcoming me alone—you are also welcoming the Father who sent me."
Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us
John spoke up and said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons using your name, and we told him to stop because he wasn't one of our group." Jesus replied, "Don't try to stop him. Anyone who does a powerful work in my name won't be able to turn around afterward and speak against me. The person who isn't opposing us is actually on our side. I'm telling you the truth—if someone gives you even a simple cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, that person will definitely receive a reward for it."
Temptations to Sin
Jesus continued speaking to his followers with grave urgency. "If anyone causes one of these young believers who trust in me to fall into sin, it would be far better for that person to have a heavy grinding stone tied around his neck and be hurled into the deep sea. "If your hand leads you into sin, cut it off completely. It is much better for you to enter eternal life missing a hand than to keep both hands and end up in hell, where the fire burns forever and is never put out. "If your foot leads you into sin, cut it off completely. It is much better for you to enter eternal life walking with a limp than to keep both feet and be cast into hell. "And if your eye leads you into sin, tear it out completely. It is much better for you to enter God's kingdom seeing with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into hell, where the worms that feed on the dead never die and the fire is never extinguished. "Everyone will be purified by fire, just as sacrifices are seasoned with salt. Salt is valuable and good, but if salt loses its power to season and preserve, how can you make it salty again? You must keep that saltiness within yourselves, and live in peace with one another."