St. Mark 9:2-9
Dear Friends in Christ,
Chapter One, St. Mark sketches out the hero. Over the next chapters the evangelist describes the growing opposition and rejection of Jesus and his message. It’s not unlike other dramas. It looks discouraging for the antagonist to say the least.
What to do? You can stop reading because you hope for the best but expect the worst and don’t want to put yourself through that. Or, you can turn to the last chapter and see how it all ends.
Jesus’ Transfiguration is not in the final chapter of St. Mark’s gospel. It is in about the middle. The Transfiguration is the door to the last chapter. The event shows us how Jesus’ ministry ends. It ends in glory for Jesus and for all believers in Jesus.
Look on with wondering eyes and trusting heartsasJesus’ Glory Beams Out in Blinding Radiance. It isa gloryusually hidden under the veil of flesh. It is a glory seenwithout hindrance in his resurrection.
Throughout his ministry Jesus seemed like an ordinary man doing extra ordinary things—miracles; he turned water into wine. He healed the sick, drove out demons and raised the dead. Jesus’ divine glory, i.e. glory belonging only to God, usually was hidden under the veil of flesh. There was nothing in Jesus’ outward appearance that would have made him stand out in a crowd.
About sixth months before his death on the cross that paid the all sufficient price for our transgressions, the Son of God led the inner circles of disciples; Peter, James, and John “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.”
What was the disciples’ reaction as Jesus’ glory beams out in radiant brilliance? Mark sights Peter as an example, “he did not know what to say they were so frightened.”Would our reactions have been any different? Pure sin standing before perfect holiness would have no chance. Imagine this sinful flesh whose members we use daily in service to our Old Adam standing before the radiant glory of God. Multiply by infinity the guilt and fear you felt as a child standing before your fatherafter you had disobeyed his explicit command not to and promise to punish you if you did.Talk about hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
But wait. There are Moses and Elijah. The Law Giver and the great Prophet, the Old Testament in the flesh, are alive in person on the mountain. Recall that God had taken Moses’ body already from his grave. God had taken Elijah directly into heaven on a whirlwind before he died.
Moses and Elijah join Jesus in conversation about his approaching Passion.They were alive because of what Jesus was about to do.Without the cross there would be no glory for them or us. There would be no glory for Jesus either. Jesus’ glory usually was hidden under the veil of flesh. Jesus’ glory is his being true man also as our Savior. Peter’s suggestion that Jesus just bypass all the coming misery and set up a heavenly kingdom in shelters right there on the mountain was misguided at best due to his fear.
It was nearly time for Jesus to complete his mission. The Father strengthened his Son for his work of redemption. Since Jesus had our human weaknesses, the Father strengthened Jesus’ faith by having him stand in the glory he would again openly manifest and use in victory.
This vision of Jesus’ glory also strengthened Jesus’ disciples and strengthens us to watch when his enemies seem to have power over him, and Satan seemingly defeats Jesus in his death and burial. We do not give up and stop reading because we know that is not what really is happening.
Jesus is God’s Son who had to die on the cross but who would rise again from the dead in exaltation.There Jesus’ glory would no longer be hidden under the veil of flesh.It would be glory seen without hindrance in the resurrection.
Proud parents like to introduce their children to other people. A couple years ago I was in Milwaukee for a meeting. I went out to dinner with our older son and his wife. We stopped later at another restaurant where the rest of the board members had gone. I introduced Nathan and Amanda because I am proud of them and their careers.
The heavenly Father wants us to know his Son, Jesus Christ, and what Jesus has done for us. The Father loves his one and only Son in the unique love that exists among the persons of the Trinity. He is proud of the faithful work his Son did in the flesh. The Father is well pleased with that work. He accepts the work of redemption by Jesus Christ on behalf of all sinful humanity including you.
The Father knew he could count of his Son. The Son speaks the truth. We must listen to the Son because he has the words of eternal life. It does no good to listen to words that are not the truth or do not offer and give us the forgiveness of sins. The Son speaks to us in these last days through the written Word especially the gospel. So we add to Moses the Law and Elijah the Prophet Jesus the Gospel who brings God’s plan of your salvation and mine full circle.
These words echo from Jesus’ baptism. At the start of Epiphany and now at the end of Epiphany the Father identifies Jesus as his Son. What does Jesus tell us? His words agree with the Father’s. He and the Father are one. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” [John 14:6] Jesus declares. Whoever believes in him will never die. John assures us that whenever we come to Jesus with our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [1 Jn 1:9]
The cross is what reveals his glory in the flesh. Jesus’ resurrection reveals his glory without hindrance in victory over all his enemies. No longer is Jesus subject to human weakness. No longer is Jesus under the guilty verdict for our sins nor are we. Jesus appeared often to his disciples post resurrection. He is still in his flesh but now that flesh is glorified. We will see that glorified flesh when he returns and give us our glorified flesh when we rise or are changed in an instant.Now we receive that victory in the means of grace.
We were not there with Peter, James and John. We do have Peter’s inspired affidavit.Peter included in his second epistle his account of what happened that day, “But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty… we ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.”[1:16, 18]
As we prepared to observe Lent, on Transfiguration Sunday the Father gives us a look at the radiant glory of Easter Sunday that lasts throughout eternity. Look on with wondering eyes and trusting hearts and say with Peter, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.”Amen. <SDG>