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

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.  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.  What is described in these verses is the Transfiguration; it is a central moment in Jesus' ministry, and for these disciples who form His inner circle.  Peter has just confessed in faith that Jesus is the Christ, and this experience is an affirmation of that faith.  Elijah and Moses represent the Prophets and the Law.  Also, Moses represents all the dead, and Elijah, who did not experience death, all those who are alive in Christ -- and thus both also represent the communion of the saints.  In Luke's gospel, we're told that they were discussing His "departure" (literally, exodus in the Greek), His Passion.  Peter's suggestion that they build tabernacles is not so disjointed from what he perceives the situation to be, as no doubt he felt this was the coming of the Kingdom.  The festival of the coming Kingdom (Sukkot), which commemorates the time of Israel wandering in search of the promised land, is also called the festival of booths or tabernacles.  But the affirmation comes in the overshadowing glory of the cloud (as when the Israelites were led by Moses in the Old Testament exodus) and the dazzling brilliant light from Jesus' clothing, and the revelation of the Father, "This is My beloved Son," making this a manifestation of the Trinity. 

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."    Jesus' statement that Elijah has "has also come" is a statement in reference to John the Baptist, who, we've read, was beheaded by Herod Antipas.  In Matthew's gospel, after Jesus has answered the same question, we read, "Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist"  (Matthew 17:13). 

My study bible points out the closeness between the Transfiguration and Christ's coming Passion, His suffering and death.  Actually, there is an even closer association of Jesus' death and suffering and His glory.  In the Transfiguration, glory is in the shining brilliance of His clothing, a light that is divine, and in the suggestion of the cloud that resembles the cloud of glory that shone for Moses and the Israelites.  These particular associations are perhaps notated more clearly in Luke's gospel, in which we're told that Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah about His decease/exodus "which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem."  It is a kind of conference concerning the Passion, the essential crowning moments of His ministry, and the central drama of the life of Christ.  It is the Passion that is thereby shielded and crowned with glory, and this association is something we have to consider.  Jesus has just spoken (in yesterday's reading) of the need to take up one's cross, to be willing to lose one's life in order to save it, and the overarching value of the soul when compared to the world's treasures.  The Passion will be an illustration and affirmation of all of that, and it is a time of glory -- not because the Lord of "life in abundance" will glorify death, but because, through His death, He will destroy the power of death, of the devil.  Somehow we have to try, as followers of Christ, to understand this great paradox and what it means for us.  It doesn't glorify suffering, but it does teach us about the essential freedom He has and expresses that the power of the soul, of His teachings, of God's truth, overshadows all things, even death.  It is Jesus' acceptance of His mission that is the glory here, and that is the thing that teaches us about the power of God to overcome anything.  By completing His mission, the cross becomes a symbol of Resurrection and hope, and His suffering isn't for nothing nor for those who wish to impose that suffering, but rather for the purposes of God, of love, and life in abundance, so that we, too, may understand and share in a life that is based on such glory and meaning.  In this way, the limited things of this world can be transfigured, and used for God's purposes. How can we, who have so many fears and needs, understand this mission, and choose to participate with Him?  How can whatever we suffer in life be also transfigured into something that serves a higher good, a greater life, an unending love?  This is the mission and the glory of the mission.  It is the power to transform life lived in fear and a kind of slavery, to life lived in the freedom to which He calls us  -- where a power greater than death can give our lives meaning and value, and each choice we make can be a kind of mission to serve something much greater than mere survival without a higher purpose.  He is here to establish something, to bring the Kingdom near, not so that we are passive in the face of this great Passion, but so that we also participate in the various manifestations of this Kingdom in whatever way our lives can be a part of it and reflect its glory as well.  If we give suffering and limitation to God, we may find all kinds of ways in which our lives become touched with meaning and transcendence and even glory, a higher purpose, a deeper accomplishment, another goal.  Let us try to remember what our struggles are really for.