Week 7: Chapter 6 — The Transfiguration

1.Jesus heals a blind man in two stages — first partially, then fully — an unusual miracle that stands alone in the Gospels. Keller reads this as a deliberate sign about the disciples' own partial spiritual sight. What does "partial sight" look like spiritually? Where do you recognize that kind of half-seeing in your own faith?

2.At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his disciples the most important question in the book: "Who do you say I am?" Peter answers: "You are the Messiah." Keller calls this the hinge of Mark's Gospel. Why is this question — and Peter's answer — so pivotal? What is at stake in how we answer it?

3.Immediately after Peter's great confession, Jesus begins to explain that he must suffer, be rejected, and be killed. Peter rebukes Jesus — and Jesus responds with the sharpest words in the Gospels: "Get behind me, Satan." What had Peter gotten right, and what had he catastrophically misunderstood? How can someone have correct doctrine about Jesus and still be working against him?