Mark 9:1-8
Jesus was speaking to the people and said: “Some of you who are standing here are going to see it happen, see the kingdom of God arrive in full force.”
Six days later, three of them did see it. Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. His clothes shimmered, glistening white, whiter than any bleach could make them. Elijah, along with Moses, came into view, in deep conversation with Jesus.
Peter interrupted, “Rabbi, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials—one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.” He blurted this out without thinking, stunned as they all were by what they were seeing.
Just then a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and from deep in the cloud, a voice: “This is my Son, marked by my love. Listen to him.”
The next minute the disciples were looking around, rubbing their eyes, seeing nothing but Jesus, only Jesus.
Today is Transfiguration Sunday and the last Sunday after Epiphany. The Advent/Christmas/Epiphany season officially ends today as we indulge in one last burst of glory before entering into the quiet and reflection of Lent and our lead-up to Easter.
It’s hard to find a clear chronology in Mark’s gospel. The whole thing is only 16 chapters long, and things come fast and furiously. With today’s reading we have already skipped to chapter 9. Also, several things seem to come in a different order than in the other gospel accounts. For instance, it’s only two chapters from today’s reading when Jesus makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a colt – something we generally think of as taking place one week before the trial and crucifixion -- and yet in this gospel four chapters worth of random teachings will come between those two points. If they all came in one week, it was a very busy week.
Does any of this matter? Probably not. It most likely says more about our human compulsion to organize things into tidy boxes that it says anything about Jesus’ purpose here with us. Mark simply wants us to know that all these things happened. This is what Jesus said, this is what Jesus did.
Wherever it may be located chronologically, today’s story of the Transfiguration stands out – there is no question about that. There is a lot of excellent teaching from Jesus to be found here in Mark and in the other gospels. And there are miracles – but they tend to be the kind of miracles that can be explained away if explaining away is what you want to see. Any good magician could appear to pull off the same trick. We are left to believe, or not, in the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking inside us and telling us that this guy is indeed the real deal. It comes down to believing because we believe. It comes down to that authority we talked about last week - that recognition that says “this is it – this is real.”
BUT – for those who were present on that hilltop on that particular day – for Peter and James and John – there is no way to explain away what they saw. They were not shown someone who might be God’s son. They were gob-smacked with the “I saw it with my own eyes!” reality of the divine standing right there in front of them – there was simply no room for doubting. And not only did they see Jesus glowing like the noonday sun, but Moses and Elijah were there, too! And then, if that weren’t enough, God’s voice spoke out from heaven!
Our Epiphany season began with a manifestation of the holy in the person of a small human child lying in a stable, and today it ends with another manifestation - this one on a mountain-top, with a grown, adult Jesus – and Moses and Elijah – the two most important personages from the Hebrew Scriptures, thrown in for the heck of it.
The Old Testament reading for today is a story about Elijah, who was the greatest of the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. It’s a pretty long reading, so I’ve chosen to not go into the whole thing here. (I think we will be doing some deeper work with Elijah and the Old Testament prophets this summer.) This reading tells of the end of Elijah’s life here on earth and of the time when he handed his mantel over to his own disciple, Elisha, and – as the scripture tells it – “Suddenly a chariot and horses of fire came between them and Elijah went up in a whirlwind to heaven” ... another gob-smacking moment and one that ties Elijah to Jesus, who will, eventually, be lifted bodily up into heaven.
Another story that connects Jesus and Elijah comes from the Book of Malachi, the last of the minor prophets, where it says, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." ..... In early Christianity it was traditionally believed that Elijah's appearance during the transfiguration fulfilled this prophecy – meaning that the end of the world could come any time now because Jesus had fulfilled the prophecies and Elijah had re-appeared.
So Epiphany ends – the season of light that began with the light of a star, guiding shepherds and kings to a stable now ends with the light of the divine shing forth from Jesus himself – and we enter the darkness of Lent. Lent is traditionally seen by the church as dark and penitential – meditative, if not downright sorrowful. I think this year I want to spend our time looking into that darkness – learning perhaps to find God’s presence, even in that darkness.
So enjoy for today the transcendent radiance of the transfiguration. Next week we descend in the darkness in search of the Holy One who is, after all, in all things.
It’s hard to find a clear chronology in Mark’s gospel. The whole thing is only 16 chapters long, and things come fast and furiously. With today’s reading we have already skipped to chapter 9. Also, several things seem to come in a different order than in the other gospel accounts. For instance, it’s only two chapters from today’s reading when Jesus makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a colt – something we generally think of as taking place one week before the trial and crucifixion -- and yet in this gospel four chapters worth of random teachings will come between those two points. If they all came in one week, it was a very busy week.
Does any of this matter? Probably not. It most likely says more about our human compulsion to organize things into tidy boxes that it says anything about Jesus’ purpose here with us. Mark simply wants us to know that all these things happened. This is what Jesus said, this is what Jesus did.
Wherever it may be located chronologically, today’s story of the Transfiguration stands out – there is no question about that. There is a lot of excellent teaching from Jesus to be found here in Mark and in the other gospels. And there are miracles – but they tend to be the kind of miracles that can be explained away if explaining away is what you want to see. Any good magician could appear to pull off the same trick. We are left to believe, or not, in the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking inside us and telling us that this guy is indeed the real deal. It comes down to believing because we believe. It comes down to that authority we talked about last week - that recognition that says “this is it – this is real.”
BUT – for those who were present on that hilltop on that particular day – for Peter and James and John – there is no way to explain away what they saw. They were not shown someone who might be God’s son. They were gob-smacked with the “I saw it with my own eyes!” reality of the divine standing right there in front of them – there was simply no room for doubting. And not only did they see Jesus glowing like the noonday sun, but Moses and Elijah were there, too! And then, if that weren’t enough, God’s voice spoke out from heaven!
Our Epiphany season began with a manifestation of the holy in the person of a small human child lying in a stable, and today it ends with another manifestation - this one on a mountain-top, with a grown, adult Jesus – and Moses and Elijah – the two most important personages from the Hebrew Scriptures, thrown in for the heck of it.
The Old Testament reading for today is a story about Elijah, who was the greatest of the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. It’s a pretty long reading, so I’ve chosen to not go into the whole thing here. (I think we will be doing some deeper work with Elijah and the Old Testament prophets this summer.) This reading tells of the end of Elijah’s life here on earth and of the time when he handed his mantel over to his own disciple, Elisha, and – as the scripture tells it – “Suddenly a chariot and horses of fire came between them and Elijah went up in a whirlwind to heaven” ... another gob-smacking moment and one that ties Elijah to Jesus, who will, eventually, be lifted bodily up into heaven.
Another story that connects Jesus and Elijah comes from the Book of Malachi, the last of the minor prophets, where it says, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." ..... In early Christianity it was traditionally believed that Elijah's appearance during the transfiguration fulfilled this prophecy – meaning that the end of the world could come any time now because Jesus had fulfilled the prophecies and Elijah had re-appeared.
So Epiphany ends – the season of light that began with the light of a star, guiding shepherds and kings to a stable now ends with the light of the divine shing forth from Jesus himself – and we enter the darkness of Lent. Lent is traditionally seen by the church as dark and penitential – meditative, if not downright sorrowful. I think this year I want to spend our time looking into that darkness – learning perhaps to find God’s presence, even in that darkness.
So enjoy for today the transcendent radiance of the transfiguration. Next week we descend in the darkness in search of the Holy One who is, after all, in all things.
RSS Feed