BREAKFAST BIBLE STUDY

Jesus Talks to Moses and Elijah

Mark 9: 2-13 (NIV)

8/10/25

“Christian nationalism is just fascism cloaked in religious garb.” – Grace Pecker

Normally, I do not like when Grace and Christian use Jesus stories for breakfast Bible study, but this time they tell me I can explain why Moses showed up in the New Testament. Since I did not really remember Moses being in the New Testament other than people talking about his prophecies and stuff, I had to call Pastor Mercer. He reminded me about the transfiguration when Jesus went up on the mountain and glowed. I slapped myself on the forehead when I remembered that Moses was there on the mountain when Jesus glowed.

“It’s in all the gospels but John,” I said. “John was a little different than the other three, but they all tell the same story.”

“Four eyewitness accounts,” Pastor Mercer said. “You are correct.”

“Only three eyewitnesses,” I reminded Pastor Mercer. “Luke was based on hearsay.”

“He heard accounts,” Pastor Mercer agreed, “but his words were inspired by God.”

“Yep,” I said. “Thanks! It’s for breakfast Bible study with Christian and Grace.”

Which we have during lunch this week because Christian and I had to check on one of the tractors this morning, which took us longer than we thought.

“You told us you didn’t think Jesus was a big fan of Moses,” Grace said. “Can you guess what story I’ve picked this week?”

I opened Grace’s Bible and read from Mark: “‘Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling bright, such as no one on earth could brighten them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.’”

“What were they talking about?” Grace asked. “How did the disciples know what Elijah and Moses looked like? Did they have cameras back then…or paintings?”

“I don’t think they had cameras or paintings, but I do know the first question,” I said. “They were talking about how Jesus was going to die. It’s in the other gospels.”

“I thought you might tell me that Jesus expressed his displeasure at Moses for all the slaughtering in Exodus,” Grace said.

“Maybe he did,” I said. “It doesn’t really say in Mark. But Exodus was a long time before Jesus…so Jesus couldn’t have really done anything to save those people.”

“No time traveling?” Christian asked.

“That’s kind of how he can forgive future sins,” I said, “but I don’t think he goes to the past. It might change the timeline too much.”

“If Moses was such a reprobate, why does Moses appear to Jesus?” Grace said.

“I know that word. It means a bad person. Maybe Jesus was forgiving Moses,” I said.

“Is that in the text?” Christian asked.

“I guess not.”

“I think what you’re doing is post hoc rationalization,” Christian said.

“I don’t know what that is,” I said. “It sounds like when you spit.”

“It’s done in the Bible all the time,” Grace said.

“People spit in the Bible?” I said. “Um…wait. Yep! That’s how Jesus healed the blind.”

“Post hoc is when things are explained after the fact,” Christian said.

“Like Jesus being the Passover lamb,” Grace said.

“He was,” I said. “But I don’t remember any spitting in that one. Just the Judas kiss. If it’s a post hoc fallacy, does that mean the logic is wrong?”

“Correct. We know from the end of Mark,” Christian said, “that the disciples didn’t really understand what was happening when Jesus rose from the dead.”

“But he did rise,” I said. “That’s the most important part.”

“Fair enough,” Grace said. “So, it would make sense that the gospel writers would fill in some blanks to explain what happened when Jesus and his closest disciples climbed that mountain. If that’s so, could it also be that the writers of the Gospel looked back at the Old Testament and found events and passages that could be seen as prophecy to make their case that Jesus was the Messiah?”

“No,” I said. “I think it was all planned.”

“So…Cole, you’ve suggested that Moses might have been there to ask Jesus for forgiveness,” Christian said. “If that’s the case, why was Elijah there?”

I kept reading because I had no answer: “‘Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.’ Oh, that’s right! Even God speaks, but Moses and Elijah disappear.”

“So…why were Moses and Elijah there?” Christian asked.

I kept reading: “‘As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.’”

“See, the disciples didn’t understand any of it until after the fact,” Christian said.

“Post hoc means after the fact?” I said.

“Yes,” Grace said.

I kept reading: “‘Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He said to them, “Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.’”

“Who was Jesus talking about?” Grace asked.

“John the Baptist,” I said. “I know that one.”

“How did that work?” Christian asked.

“How did what work?”

“I thought John the Baptist was John the Baptist,” Christian said.

“Was he possessed by Elijah?” Grace asked. “Was Elijah reincarnated?”  

“No.”

“Then what does Jesus mean?” Grace said.

“Wait, I know they thought Jesus was a ghost when he walked on water,” I said. “Did they believe in reincarnation back then, too?”

Grace and Christian both shrugged.

“So, wait, Moses and Elijah showed up like ghosts because they were important to the Jewish people?” I said. “And I’m wrong to think Jesus scolded Moses for being so violent?

“Moses was a hero to his people,” Christian said. “Jesus’ followers expected him to become a hero to his people. They expected him to usher in a new kingdom.”

“But Moses did so many bad things,” I said.

“In our eyes, he did,” Christian said. “We’re not oppressed people looking for a messiah to save us from unjust oppressors…not yet, at least. Messiah movements in that day had nationalistic ambitions, which might have been the reason national heroes from the past appeared during the transfiguration. Most people in that day were looking for a messiah to free them from Roman oppression.”

“But Jesus didn’t do that, not in any physical sense,” Grace said.

“Is that why a lot of Jewish people didn’t convert?” I asked.

“I’m not sure conversion is the right concept,” Grace said. “If you read Acts, you see a tension between Jewish and Gentile followers. Back then, Gentile followers questioned if they had to follow Jewish law to worship Jesus.”

“Jesus was not what most people were expecting,” Christian said. “Most people couldn’t read back then. They heard stories about Moses, probably just the highlights, like the Passover story. That’s what they were expecting in their messiah. For most, Jesus didn’t fit the bill. Early Christians wrestled with what Jesus meant to them. That’s why many sects with wide-ranging beliefs formed in the decades following Jesus’ death. It wasn’t until hundreds of years later that the stories became codified, and alternate views regarding Jesus were suppressed.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Only if you’re the one doing the suppressing,” Christian said.

In state legislatures across the country, Christian fundamentalists are passing laws meant to force the teaching of the Christian Bible in public schools. From the posting of textually inaccurate iterations of the Ten Commandments on the walls of classrooms to the incorporation of the “Trump Bible” across multiple pedagogical disciplines, these laws and mandates are sweeping the reddest parts of this nation.

The height of hypocrisy is banning books in the name of “protecting children” while mandating one particular book rife with numerous acts of sexual violence and scenes of graphic violence and genocide.

Book bans are dangerous. The Bible is worth reading and exists online and in public school libraries across the country, but proponents of mandating its formal teaching in public schools need to know what it actually says.

Some themes in my books below might not be appropriate for children.