GOSPEL READING
THE GOSPEL OF MARK
Chapter 9: Overview
Our reading of chapter 9 begins with verse 2 and the opening "After six days". We saw in chapter 8 how the first verse of this chapter fits better with the preceding teaching on discipleship, 8,34-9,1, though it is also an introduction to the scene of the Transfiguration.
We can now look ahead and note how chapter 10 opens with another new beginning, 10,1. That establishes our boundaries for reading chapter 9.
Now, read through the chapter itself. We have seen the new beginning in verse 2. Where is the next new beginning? Note how this is soon followed by a more specific location. Then see how the second half of the chapter is a continuous teaching by Jesus with minor breaks.
Then look at my response.
Reading Plan, chapter 9
The first two pages for our reading readily follow the first two parts of the chapter.
However, the second half of the chapter, 9,30-50, is read as the Gospel on the 25th and 26th Sundays in Ordinary Time. The two Sunday Gospels will give us a satisfactory way of reading this second half over two pages:
- 9,2-13: The Transfiguration and the following discussion.
- 9,14-29: The healing of the epileptic boy.
- 9,30-37: Jesus' 2nd prediction of his fate and its consequences (Sunday 25).
- 9,38-50: Stumbling blocks (Sunday 26).
We are now ready for our reading of the chapter, beginning with the Transfiguration of Jesus and the discussion that follows as they descend the mountain, 9,2-13.