This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!

 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.  His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.  And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.  Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles:  one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"  -- because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.  And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son.  Hear Him!"  Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.

Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.  And they asked Him, saying, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"  Then He answered and told them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things.  And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?  But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him."

- Mark 9:2-13

 In yesterday's reading, we were told that when Jesus had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the Holy angels."  And He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power."

 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.  His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.  My study bible tells us:  "The transfigured radiance of Christ is His uncreated glory, a saving revelation at the heart of the Christian experience (2 Pet. 1:16-18).  The Transfiguration assures the disciples that the Messiah, who is to suffer, is also the Lord of Glory (see 1 Cor. 2:8).  Only His third-day Resurrection is a greater sign of His divinity than is His Transfiguration."

And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.  Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles:  one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"  -- because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.  A note here reads:  "Although Christ is addressed as Rabbi, He has not passed through a rabbinical school, and His ministry has clearly gone beyond the established function of a rabbi, which was to teach.  This title shows the Master-disciple relationships between Christ and the Twelve.  Peter recognizes Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, who appear with Jesus.  This is a glimpse of the glory that is to be revealed (Romans 8:18) where introductions will not be needed."  For the Jews, tabernacles or tents (the literal meaning of the Greek word here) were associated with the coming of the Kingdom, and the Feast of the Coming Kingdom commemorated the time when Israel lived in what are called booths, tents, or "tabernacles," the God of Israel moving with them.  So, Peter's words, if confused by the awesome experience, at least reflect a grasping at the familiar, something he can relate to.  In John 1:14, we read "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."  The verb translated into English as "dwelt" means tabernacled or literally "tented" in the Greek, and is the verb form of the same word Peter uses here.

And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son.  Hear Him!"  Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.  A note in my study bible tells us:  "A cloud is sometimes the sign of a theophany, the presence of God the Father.  This revelation is for the benefit of the disciples, that their faith should be firm.  For they are called to believe not only in Christ but in what is to come, the eternal Kingdom.  The Greek verb for hear is in the present imperative form, meaning 'listen always.'"   This command is for each of us, always present to us.

Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead.   So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.  My study bible says here that Christ's Resurrection is required for full disclosure of the messianic secret and for full understanding of messiahship.  Equally of importance here is this repeated need for a partial disclosure, so to speak.  Some of the apostles, His inner circle of Peter, John and James, have been allowed this revelation of glory.  But it's not yet for the world to understand and to know.  Even for these apostles, the revelation isn't clear -- they have no idea to what Jesus is referring when He speaks of rising from the dead.

And they asked Him, saying, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"  Then He answered and told them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things.  And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?  But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him."  A note in my study bible here says, "The return of Elijah, expected as a preparation for the Messiah, has already been fulfilled through John the Baptist." 

The apostles here of Jesus' inner circle -- the same three who were present at the healing of Jairus' daughter -- are given a great revelation.  But they don't yet understand -- at all -- what any of it means.  Jesus strictly tells them they must not reveal this experience until His Resurrection, and they have no idea what He's talking about or could refer to.  These apostles will become the cornerstones of the Church; St. Peter speaking often for the rest throughout the Gospels, and St. John giving us several books of Scripture (either directly or through his disciples), including John's Gospel, which teaches us the true theology of Jesus' identity as Christ.  These fishermen have probably known Jesus for a great deal of His life, even before ministry.  So there is an intimacy here we can note.  But let us look also to their question to Him, about prophecy:  "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"  It's another sign to us in the Gospel of "partial knowledge."  That is, they ask about prophecy, another kind of mystery.  It's mystery which has just been revealed to them, but the full understanding and knowledge of the things of God remain hidden.  They are given something, a great gift of grace, but it will take time, and lots of it, to come to understand what it all means.  The prophecy about the return of Elijah is another mystery; but it has been fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptist, with whom they are also very familiar, as many disciples of Jesus came first from the Baptist.  While Scripture and revelation may work fully in and of themselves, they continue giving us new understanding, a fulfillment of what they promise, and continue doing so until this day.  We still do not have the fullness of all the knowledge of God, even though God's presence and glory are there in the story of the Transfiguration.  Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, are also there.  But the command to "Hear Him!" is a command for all time, an eternal present that is always with us in the here and now.  Each time we turn in prayer, we are hopefully engaged in a dialogue in which we, too, can "Hear Him!"  It doesn't matter what has been revealed already, each promise of revelation is a continual giving of now, when we need Him, at all times.  The revelation of God occurs on many levels, and time and space do not apply in the sense in which we conventionally understand them.  Each revelation -- and this is the nature of Scripture -- is something that keeps on giving, keeps on unfolding.  The fullness of the faith is something we will all continually work toward, and the mystery of Christ's revelation is something we will always be pursuing.  It's important to know we don't have all the answers and that we're on a journey, just like the apostles in today's reading.  We remember the recent reading in which the blind man, who, as his sight was being restored, said, "I see men like trees, walking."  We may be given a full revelation, the gift of God's glory, but it promises us a long, long road into its mystery and knowledge.  Our encounter is with beauty; but it beckons us toward more to come, and the depth of its truth and its love.