Mark 9:1-29

Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth: some standing here won't die before they see the kingdom of God having come with power.” Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him, and led them up a high mountain to be by themselves. His appearance totally changed. His clothes shone a brilliant white, whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared in front of them as well, talking with Jesus. Peter spoke up and said, “Rabbi, it's great for us to be here! We should make three shelters—one each for you, Moses, and Elijah.” (He really didn't know what to say because they were all so frightened!) Then a cloud covered them, and a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, the one I love. Listen to him.” Then, all of a sudden, as they were watching, there was nobody. Only Jesus was with them. As they came down the mountain Jesus instructed them not to tell anyone what they'd seen until the Son of man had risen from the dead. They kept this to themselves, but they did argue with each other over what it meant to rise from the dead. “Why do the religious teachers state that Elijah has to come first?” they asked him. “It's true that Elijah comes first to prepare everything,” Jesus replied. “But why then does it say in Scripture that the Son of man has to suffer so much and be treated with contempt? However, I tell you that Elijah has come, and they abused him in whatever way they wanted, just as Scripture said they would.” When they returned to the other disciples, they saw them surrounded by a large crowd and some religious teachers arguing with them. As soon as the crowd saw Jesus they were in total awe, and ran to greet him. “What are you arguing with them about?” Jesus asked them. One of the people in the crowd answered, “Rabbi, I brought my son to you. He has an evil spirit that prevents him speaking. Whenever he has a seizure it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and he becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out of him, but they couldn't do it.” “You unbelieving people!” Jesus responded. “How long must I remain here with you? How long do I have to put up with you? Bring him over here to me!” So they brought him to Jesus. When the evil spirit saw Jesus it immediately sent the boy into convulsions and threw him on the ground, where he rolled around, foaming at the mouth. “How long has he had this?” Jesus asked the boy's father. “Since he was small,” the father replied. “Often it throws him into the fire to burn him to death, or throws him into water to drown him. Please have mercy on us and help, if you can.” “Why do you say, ‘if you can?’” replied Jesus. “Whoever trusts has every power!” “I do trust in you,” the man shouted out right away. “Help me not to distrust you.” Jesus, seeing that the crowd was closing in, commanded the evil spirit, “Spirit that causes deafness and dumbness, I order you to come out of him and never return.” The spirit screamed and threw the boy into severe convulsions. Then the spirit came out of the boy and left him for dead—to the extent that many of the people said, “He's dead.” But Jesus took the boy by the hand and helped him up, and he got to his feet. Later, when Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him in private, “Why couldn't we drive the evil spirit out?” “This kind can't be driven out except by prayer,” Jesus told them.