A Glimpse of Glory
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. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
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.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
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.
Mark 9:2-9
A short reflection on Jesus’ Transfiguration up on the mountaintop.
The event that marks the transition point between the end of Jesus' eartly ministry and his Passion, his time of suffering before his crucifixion and resurection.
From the point onwards, Jesus sets his heart and mind firmly on going to Jerusalem and the cross!
But before we begin, we need to put our text in its context.
In Chapter 8 we read about Jesus feeding the 4000, healing a blind man, and then in verse 27 he asks the disciples,
"Who do people say I am?"
"Some say John the Baptist, Others Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets,"
Then he asks, "but what about you, who do you say that I am?"
And here Peter says “You are the Messiah”
Peter's answer was bold and uncompromising, just as ours should be
"You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God"
The disciples had finally realised that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, The Greek word "Christ" simply means “the anointed one, the promised Messiah”.
Then with the disciples realisation, Jesus warns the disciples not to tell anyone!
Having confessed what they believed about Jesus, the disciples were ready for the next secret that Jesus wanted to share with them!
He was going with them to Jerusalem where he would be rejected by the religious leaders, be put to death on the cross, but after 3 days he would rise again!
True to his character, Peter protests, No lord!
for Jesus to rebuke him with the words,
“Get behind me Satan, you do not have in mind the things of God, but merely human concerns”
One minute Peter was the rock, and the next he was a stumbling block!
Anyone of us who loves Jesus, but rejects God’s methods becomes a stumbling block. Because we become a hindrance to Him, and in this we do the work of Satan. It’s a sobering thought!
It took faith for the disciples to accept and practice this lesson on suffering and discipleship, so six days later, the Lord gives a dazzling proof that God does indeed transform suffering into glory as he is transfigured right before the eyes of Peter, James, and John up on the mountain top.
But what does the word Transfiguration mean? Simply put it means an outward visible change of form or appearance,
We’re told in verse 3
“His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them”.
Matthew's gospel records it as “his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light”.
The three disciples, Peter, James, and John must have been terrified by the whole experience as they fell on their faces, but what an experience!
For 6 days Jesus had been teaching the disciples of the suffering that was about to happen to him. Teaching them that he was going to suffer much, be put to death, but on the third day, he would rise again.
Perhaps they hadn't fully grasped what Jesus had told them, or perhaps they didn't want it to happen or accept what they were being told.
After all Jesus was their teacher,,,, their leader,,,,, their friend,,,, and here he was telling them that he was going to suffer much and be put to death! How could there be glory in this?
Matthew writes in his Gospel the Peter's response to this news is
“never lord” he said “this shall never happen to you” Jesus replies, get behind me Satan, you are a stumbling block to me, you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns”
Peter with his mortal mind says “never Lord” but he says it out of Love, he didn't want Jesus to suffer and die, in his mind this wasn't how it was meant to be, Jesus was the Messiah, the King, how could this be right how coud ne stand by and let it happen...
But for Jesus not to go to the Cross and to set up an earthly kingdom wasn't the will of the Father, and as such Peter's words are a repeat of the temptation in the desert when Satan brought Jesus up onto a high place and offered him power over all that he could see.....
It wasn't God's plan, and the lesson for us,.... if it's not God's will, and if it's just our will.... then it's simply sin.
Remember Jesus taught us to say it in our prayers every day,
"thy will be done, thy kingdom come"
“six days” is also an echo of Exodus 24 when Moses was up on the mountain top six days before God called out of the cloud to him to be given the 10 commandments. The same period that God spoke or instructed Moses on the Old Testament law as Jesus instructs the disciples, so, there's a lot going on!
In Mark 9:1 we read what Jesus said before the transfiguration itself,:
And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.’
This verse has often been misunderstood as a prophecy that the 2nd coming of Jesus would occur before the first generation of Christians would die. We know this didn't occur, so that interpretation can't be correct.
To understand this verse, we need to ask ourselves what is the “The kingdom of God”, and again remember, Christ taught us in our daily prayer to pray
“thy kingdom come”.
The Bible teaches us that God's kingdom is the manifestation of the rule of God over the hearts and minds of mankind here on earth.
We see this in the Old Testament, when the Israelites wanted an earthly King, so that they could be like other nations, God wasn't too pleased. 1 Samuel 8:6-7 records:
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king
So here we read that God reproaches the Jews, through Samuel, for not wanting his rule within their hearts and minds!
Later on, Daniel foretells of the succession of earthly kingdoms, all destined to fall before God's kingdom would be established here on earth.
Daniel 2:44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
In Daniel 7:44 we also read that the “Son of Man” is given dominion, glory and an everlasting and indestructible kingdom.
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
So, from these verses, we see that Jesus, the “Son of Man” is the King of God's kingdom. And on the mountain top his appearance is physically changed, transfigured, a visual manifestation that reveals the power of Gods kingdom here on earth.
And so the three disciples, Peter, James, and John did see the Kingdom of God before they tasted death.
The Law and the Prophets, verse 4
And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
Why Moses and Elijah?
They are the two people whom God used to reveal His Law and his word.
Moses was the giver of the Law, and he’s attributed with writing the first 5 books of the Bible.
And Elijah is considered the greatest of all the prophets.
For us Christians, Jesus is the complete and perfect living Word of God or you could also say the complete and perfect living Law.
Thankfully he summarised up the entire Law when he taught us the two great commandments,
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
So here Moses and Elijah who represent the old covenant are present with Jesus discussing Christ's earthly ministry as he brings in the new covenant whuch superseds the old so that all people, the nations, could be reconciled to God, not just the Jewish people.
Building shelters: V5
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.)
Poor Peter, he’s completely overawed by what’s taking place, and who wouldn't be? he doesn’t want the moment to end, or Moses and Elijah to leave, so he offers to build three shelters for them, Peter is experiencing one of life’s mountaintop moments, and who could blame him for never wanting this spiritual experience to end?
Each one of us in times of worship and praise, when we feel the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, we don't want that feeling to end either! But we know that we can’t stay in this state, we can’t stay on that mountain top, and we have to come back down, but through the experience we are renewed and strengthened for the days ahead. Then in a short while we are filled with the Holy Spirit once again.
Jesus’s Transfiguration was never meant to be permanent; it was only a temporary event. and so yet again, Peter's focus is on the wrong thing, it's on human concerns, not the concerns of God.
Verse 7 While Peter was still speaking a bright cloud covered them
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!’
The are only two times in the New Testament that a voice from above is mentioned. The first is at the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, which is at the beginning of Christ's earthly ministry, and the second is here at Jesus's Transfiguration, which marks the beginning of the end of his ministry, his time of suffering,...his Passion.
But notice that at these two key points, the Trinity is present
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Godhead, is present,
and at this moment Jesus’s divinity is revealed as he is transfigured before their very eyes. His human body is transformed, and he radiates with the power and beauty of his divinity that one day we will see for ourselves!
It's no wonder they fell on their faces terrified, in the full might and presence of God! Someday all of us will stand before the Almighty, and every knee will bow, because He is truly Lord God Almighty!
“Listen to him”
The final words of the statement “Listen to him” it’s a command and it clearly identifies Jesus as the messenger and spokesperson of God, so instead of Elijah or Moses, the apostles are now being told that Jesus should be listened to, as he surpasses Elijah and Moses being the Living Word of God!
Theologians agree that this event is a major moment, a moment where this world, this earthly temporary world meets the eternal world of God, with Christ as the connecting point, bridging the void between man and God.
It’s no wonder that Christ was Transfigured! as he “Shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light”.
For us, this is a glimpse of what lies ahead, when we too are transformed into the image of Christ.
Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians 3:18
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
And when we finally leave this earth to be with Him in heaven.
1 Corinthians 15:53
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
To be made perfect through Christ, to be filled to overflowing with his Love and glory, our faces radiating as the sun and our clothes as white as pure light, children of God living in eternal life with him, our souls rejoicing forever, what a wonderful reward for simply believing in and accepting Jesus as our lord and saviour.
For 6 days the disciples had been talking about the events that lay ahead, events they probably didn't fully understand or want to happen, but here on the mountain top they've had a reality check, they've been lifted up and exalted, they've shared in the experience of being in the presence of Holy Trinity. The events that lay ahead were serious, Jesus was going to suffer and die, but more than this he would rise again.
One day all of us will be brought into the presence of the Almighty, we will stand before him in the great assembly. My prayer is that on that day we will all be found worthy to be transfigured in His likeness as adopted sons and daughters of God.
Have a great week, and God bless,
Trev.