Mark 9:11-13

Mark 9:11-13. And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought. But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.

Notice that, even when our Saviour was answering his disciples’ question about Elias and John, the ruling passion being strong upon him, he introduced into that answer something about his own death. That subject is ever before his eye; he never forgets it; he is in a sense undergoing his passion even as he descends the mount of transfiguration.