Continuation of Mark 9. When Jesus uses the term "Son of Man" each time he teaches about his impending death (8:31; 9:12; 9:31) you got to wonder. Why juxtapose the potential greatest victory of our history with downfall? the greatest power with vulnerability? His followers probably thought the master was being sarcastic or trying to motivate them to work harder. It was neither. Jesus was continually seeking to get them to revise their concept of greatness - because soon they were about to witness the greatest paradoxical moment in history. But they were high on illusions of grandeur and power and exclusion - heroin for the soul. Better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than poison a newbie in the faith with this kind of addiction.