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Mark 9:2-10
The Transfiguration
2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
Today’s gospel reading is Mark’s account of the event we call “the Transfiguration.” It hasn’t traditionally been considered a terribly important story in the Protestant tradition, but personally, I think that’s been a mistake. Just taken on its own, the Transfiguration is worth some careful thought. And in the context of the events that went right before, it strikes me as even more important for our Christology – our understand of who Jesus was and what his earthly ministry means.
In the story, Jesus goes up on a mountaintop with his three closest disciples – Peter, James and John. Up on the mountaintop, Jesus begins to glow with an unearthly light, and suddenly the figures of Moses and Elijah appear and talk with him. Peter suggests to Jesus that he and the other disciples should put up shelters for Jesus and the two figures from the history of their people. It seems that Peter was just trying to think of some appropriate response to the situation. Later he would admit that he was so freaked out by what was happening that he was reduced to babbling.
The question, of course, is what this strange story is all about. To me it falls into the category of an ‘enacted parable’ – an action God was taking to make a specific point. So what, exactly, was that point?
That’s where the context becomes really important. You might remember that in recent days, the listed gospel readings told the story of the time when Peter first identified Jesus as the Messiah. Then Jesus told those around him that even though he was the Messiah, he would be killed by the religious leaders of his people. That upset Peter so much he tried to talk Jesus out of going through with it.
It seems to me that to understand the meaning of the Transfiguration, you need to keep in mind that it follows right after those events. I’d say this strange revelation on the mountaintop was meant to show the leaders of the disciples understood exactly who it was that was speaking to them and allowing himself to be killed.
As we’ve said before, the Hebrew people expected a very different Messiah than Jesus turned out to be. They expected a warrior king, and Jesus obviously wasn’t that. He was a charismatic rabbi, but obviously much more than that. Jesus was God in human form, and he had come from the heavenly realm to intervene in human history. On this occasion, he was being shown in a heavenly, supernatural form. Jesus was, as we understand it, both God and human. The disciples saw his human form every day. At the Transfiguration, they were brought face-to-face with his true nature as God.
It could be said that the Transfiguration was an “apocalypse.” That term is thought of as meaning an event of terrible destruction, but the real meaning of the word is unveiling, or revelation. And what was being revealed on the mountaintop was the true nature of Jesus.
As for the other figures out of history, Moses and Elijah were two of the most important figures in the history of the covenant people. They were probably there to represent the ‘Law and the Prophets.’ Those were the two things the Hebrew people thought of as setting them apart from all other peoples. Moses was the giver of the Law, and Elijah was the prophet who was supposed to return before ‘the day of the Lord.’ So their appearance seems to be making the point that Jesus had come into the world to fulfill what God had been doing among his people throughout history – to fulfill the law and the prophets.
Finally, a cloud surrounded the group and God spoke: “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” In a sense, God was declaring before human witnesses the truth about Jesus and his role in history. (Just in case they missed the point of him glowing and the mysterious appearance of the historical figures.) God was also commanding that the disciples pay attention to the things Jesus had to say about his coming death and resurrection. These things would be difficult and confusing for the disciples to hear. But God was commanding them to pay attention to them anyway.
So maybe you can see why I say the Transfiguration is such an important story. It confronts us with the real nature – with the real identity – of the Lord we follow.
Let’s pray. Lord, we can easily understand the fear and confusion the first disciples experienced on that mountaintop. But impress on our hearts the important truth of this story – that in Jesus, you laid aside your infinite power and went to the cross out of love for us. And help us to live in a spirit of thanks for that great sacrifice every day. Amen.
Every Blessing,
Henry
(The other readings for today are Psalms 117 and 118; II Samuel 11:1-27; and Acts 19:11-20. Our readings come from the NIV Bible, as posted on Biblica.com, the website of the International Bible Society.)
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