Mark 9:14. "And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd about them, and scribes arguing with them." This is immediately after the transfiguration - Jesus had taken Peter, James, and John up the mountain and left the other disciples, only to come back and find a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them.

Sometimes Jesus does "leave us alone" for a little while. Not that we are ever truly alone, He is always with us, but He is not always as close with us as we would like. Sometimes it is so that we can better hear and listen to Him and His words as He draws us further in our faith journey. A priest in my parish recently gave a homily about this with regard to Mark 4:1-2, in which Jesus was surrounded by the crowd, so He got into a boat and went offshore to preach to them - He pulled away a bit so that they could hear and listen. Here, though, Jesus leaves his other disciples alone while he reveals to Peter, James, and John something that, presumably, the others were not ready for yet. I should say He left the others physically alone, He was always with them in Spirit, and He knew exactly what was going on with them the entire time He was away, just as He is and does with all of us.

The story of the transfiguration focuses, naturally, on the apostles who were with Jesus, but He was accomplishing something for the others, as well. He always is - remember, God is economical! So what was He teaching the other disciples in His absence? The first lesson, I think, is how quickly the naysayers would come for them when He was not around to take the flak. Apparently, as soon as Jesus left the other disciples, the scribes showed up for an argument. The lesson is that God's opposition will always swoop in when they feel they can get to us without Him around. We have to be ready for this by being firm in our faith and always ready to defend it on our own, but also trusting that He always really is with us in Spirit, and His Spirit will guide us in the words we are to say and the defenses we are to make. We also must not do anything to distance ourselves from Him, as that would really weaken us and make us easy targets for those who come against us.

The second lesson from this episode is a reminder that we can do nothing without God. Even when Jesus seems far from us, accomplishing other things, things that might seem "more important" than our problems, we must remember that God is still with us and cares about everything in our lives, but He may just be asking us to wait. We can then settle ourselves in His love, and rely on the Holy Spirit to see us through our "lesser" trials, guiding us in our actions and decisions. If we get into arguments we feel we can't win, or encounter problems we can't seem to fix (see below!), that is usually the time to step back from the situation and appeal to God in prayerful patience until He prompts us to act, or acts Himself. So many of my problems are made worse when I try to fix them myself, or when I engage in "arguments" that are not true arguments at all, but angry exchanges with people who refuse to be convinced, like the scribes. What I should do instead is ask God what to do or say, and listen. He often is telling me wait and pray, and assuring me that Jesus will show up when the time is right.

This brings me to the last lesson: I think this episode was meant to teach the Apostles, and us, a little about demonology. The crowd and the argument apparently grew out of a situation with a possessed boy from whom the apostles were unable to drive the evil spirit. When Jesus learned of this, He exclaimed "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me." (Mark 9:19) (I always like it when Jesus gets a little exasperated with us, I am surprised He didn't so do more often! It reminds me of the line from the Surrender Novena in which He says our failure to fully surrender causes confusion "like the confusion that children feel when they ask their mother to see to their needs, and then try to take care of those needs for themselves so that their childlike efforts get in their mother’s way."). When the possessed boy's father brings the boy to Him, Jesus drives the spirit out, and later the apostles ask why they were not able to do so. Jesus replies, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting." (Mark 9:29). So we learn that there are demons who can, of course, be driven out directly by God Himself, but who will not respond to the power granted to the apostles; these spirits require fasting and prayer to drive them away. This is a crucial piece of knowledge for both the apostles and for us that we would otherwise not know if Jesus had initially been around to drive the demon out when the boy and his father first approached the disciples.

So, as one of the disciples who is "left behind" here on earth, all of these lessons taught in Jesus's absence are very helpful to me. I must be ready for arguments, and discern when to engage and when to step away; I must be educated, firm, and well grounded in my faith, especially for those times I am to engage; I must trust in His presence even when He does not feel close to me; I must remember that I can do nothing without Him, and always ask for the Spirit's guidance; and I must remember that sometimes nothing I can do on my own will work, other than prayer and fasting, which always will.