He was transfigured before them

 Apse mosaic of the Transfiguration - St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinai (565-6)

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 the 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, an they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him."

- Mark 9:2-13

Yesterday, we read that Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "Who do men say that I am?"  So they answered, "John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ."  Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.  And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.  He spoke this word openly.  Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.  But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."  When He 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 Peter 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 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 tells us:  "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 relationship 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."  The tabernacles confusedly suggested by Peter are connected to the Festival of Booths (Sukkot), a celebration of the coming Kingdom -- in which the time of Israel living in booths or tents (temporary shelters) is commemorated.  Central to the Feast is the construction of booths, a reconstruction of those of Israel in the forty-year wilderness period.  The word in the Greek translated as tabernacle also means "tent."

And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son.  Hear Him!"   My study bible says, "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 word for hear is in the present imperative form, meaning 'listen always.'"

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 the word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.  My study bible suggests that the Resurrection of Christ is required for a real and true, full disclosure of who Christ is and what messiahship is -- the messianic secret.  Something tremendous has been revealed to them in this vision or theophany, the appearance of the Transfiguration.  It's a manifestation of truth.   But in worldly terms they are "suddenly" alone with Jesus, and this full truth must remain, for now, a secret.  It is a secret that they, the disciples, do not understand.

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, an they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him."  A note here tells us:  "The return of Elijah, expected as a preparation for the Messiah, has already been fulfilled through John the Baptist."

It's interesting to think of the Jewish festival of Sukkot, or the Festival of Booths, in relation to what we are reading here, as suggested by Peter's somewhat babbling allusion to the festival.   An excerpt from a webpage on the subject (Judaism 101:  Sukkot) speaks about Sukkot as following, after five days, the  holiday of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement, a time of repentance): "It is quite a drastic transition, from one of the most solemn holidays in our year to one of the most joyous."   We can see this pattern of the Jewish festivals reflected in recent readings from the Gospel.  Jesus, in yesterday's reading, immediately upon Peter's confession of Him as Christ, revealed the suffering that is going to come -- that the Son of Man must suffer many things.  Yom Kippur, a time of repentance for the sins of the previous year, suggests a kind of mourning for our sinfulness.  In Christ's suffering, reflective of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, although sinless, He is burdened with the sins of the world, His suffering teaches us about the state of the world we're born into.  This news is something for which we mourn, and we are to repent of those things in us that reflect this state of the world.  But the joy comes in Resurrection, and here Christ's transfigured glory comes to the disciples immediately as the next revelation (six days later), after the shattering news of His suffering.  As the Judaism 101 website teaches about the transition from Yom Kippur to Sukkot, a time of great joy, so we see these events played out in the life of Jesus, and the experience of the disciples; it is again a reflection of type, fulfilled and made manifest in Jesus.  Another way we see the image of Christ and the events of the Gospel in our own lives is to reflect on the symbolism here about ourselves.  We, too, may go through suffering and repentance to come to great joy at what we are left with.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus spoke of the need for each of us to carry our crosses and "Follow Me."  His example and experience, this icon of Christ Crucified and Resurrection is an image for our own lives.  He bore the sins of the world, and we, too, may suffer not only for our own sins but for the sinfulness of the world we're born into.  We may suffer injustice and hardship because of our own failings and shortcomings and also as a burden imposed on us by others.  But we are to do it all His way, with Him, in a place that leads us to repentance (or "change of mind" literally in the Greek), that brings us closer to the "transfigured" person that we can be in His light.  Jesus' way isn't only to teach us about what we need to do regarding our own sins and limitations, but also how to respond to the injustice of the world, the sinfulness with which we may be burdened.  Let us remember that today's image is one filled with light in every way:  in the clothing too radiant for the world's concept of brilliant and dazzling white, an impossible light -- and even, paradoxically, in the cloud that gives us the voice of the Father (fulfilling the type of  the revelations to Moses in the Promised Land).  Let us remember what He's given us.  Let us understand why we bear -- with Him -- the burdens of a sinful world, we take up our own crosses.  He has brought a Kingdom into this world, and we are to share in it.  But there is more to the story:  we also share in the bringing of the Kingdom into this world, He has invited us into His mission, to also take up the cross, and to bear signs of Resurrection and light, of transfiguration (in the Greek, metamorphosis) in ourselves.  Let us remember the fullness of Christ, of Messiah, in Resurrection and Transfiguration.  This dazzling revelation, too, is a part of who we are, no matter what the world may see on its own terms.