Mark 9:8-13 - They no longer saw anyone

9:8-10

The moment happened, then it was gone. Moses and Elijah were no longer there, only Jesus. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. The disciples obeyed Jesus, but they did not understand what “rising from the dead “ meant. Notions that the disciples gullibly accepted the idea of resurrection are complete nonsense. They did not expect Jesus to rise from the dead, in fact the concept meant nothing to them.

9:11-13

Instead of asking Jesus about the resurrection, they asked him about Elijah. The concept of Elijah coming was known to them, for the teachers of the Law taught this. Jesus tells them that the teachers of the Law are correct, He then refers back to the Son of Man suffering. The suffering and the resurrection are what they really needed to grasp. “Elijah has come”. The Greek is in the perfect sense, i.e. it is an ongoing action. In a sense we all have the same mission as John the Baptist, pointing people to Jesus. And the death of John the Baptist demonstrated that speaking about Jesus was a dangerous thing to do.