He was transfigured before them

 

 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 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.  And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.   After six days would seem to indicate this is the seventh day; that is, the fullness of the time after Christ revealed not only His identity (as confessed by Peter on behalf of all of the disciples), but also after His revelation to them that He will suffer and be killed and rise again on the third day.   To go up on a high mountain is to prepare for a profound spiritual experience, and this is indeed a revelation of God.  That Christ was transfigured (Greek μεταμορφόω/metamorpho) in this revelation gives us a deep basis for an understanding of the fullness of Christianity itself.  Christ is transfigured to reveal His identity:  that His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them is a revelation of divine light.  In icons this often appears with a blue tinge, indicating a heavenly light beyond white, beyond the full spectrum of worldly light.  In Luke's Gospel, Elijah and Moses discuss Christ's decease (Luke 9:31) -- that is, literally in the Greek, His ἔξοδον/exodus or "departure."  My study Bible comments that Christ's death is intimately connected to the glory of the Transfiguration, for Christ is glorified through His death (John 12:23).  Elijah represents the Prophets -- and, since he did not experience death (see 2 Kings 2:11), all those who are alive in Christ.  Moses the Law and all those who have died.  We should recall here that Jesus referred to Himself as the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (see Matthew 5:17). 

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.  Peter speaks from an understanding of the Feast of Tabernacles (in which tabernacles or tents were erected to commemorate the time when Israel wandered in the desert) as the feast of the coming Kingdom.  Moses and Elijah are immediately recognizable and  evidently known to Peter, and as such they represent the communion of saints who are always present with Christ.  My study Bible says that their presence shows that the law and the prophets, the living and the dead, all bear witness to Jesus as the Messiah, the fulfillment of the whole Old Testament.  

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.   The brilliant light of Christ's clothes, the brightness of the cloud which overshadowed the whole mountain (Matthew 17:5) reveal the presence of the Spirit, while the Father's voice testifies to Christ as His beloved Son, and commands that they "Hear Him!"  These elements make the Transfiguration a theophany, a manifestation of God the Holy 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."   The disciples' question regarding Elijah's return refers to the prophecy in Malachi 4:5-6.  After witnessing the appearance of Moses and Elijah speaking with Christ in the Transfiguration, the disciples are now able to understand Jesus' words that "Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him" as a reference to John the Baptist (see Matthew 11:11-14, 17:12-13).

 

The Transfiguration plays an important role in understanding our lives as followers of Christ, and the ways in which faith and grace are at work in us.  It gives us a sense of the work of grace to help to reveal and transform.  Christ's Transfiguration revealed His identity, who He truly was and is.  So it is that we also see the Incarnation as having a transfiguring effect upon the world, and through the life and ministry of Christ -- and in particular through the Cross.  It's important to understand that the word in Greek, Metamorphosis, means transformation.  Effectively it is the power of Christ that transfigures everything.  This includes the power to remit sin, the power and grace that is at work in us to help to transfigure or transform us to the true image in which our Creator has made us, to reveal our own true identities through the transfiguring effect of our faith in Christ and the subsequent work of the Holy Spirit in us.  Christ transfigured the ultimate effect of evil -- death itself -- through the Cross.  The Orthodox chant on Easter:  "Christ is risen from the dead, by death trampling death, and giving life to those in the tombs."  St. Paul calls death "the last enemy" (see 1 Corinthians 15:26-28).  He writes of this effect which transfigures even the evil of the world, quoting from Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14:  "So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 'O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?'" (1 Corinthians 15:54-55).  As the ancient world saw Christ, the Incarnation held this deepest meaning:  that God who became Man in turn transformed and healed everything, for only by assuming every single aspect of our humanity and engaging in the worldly life in which He voluntarily endured even suffering and death, could He heal all of the above.  This is what the Transfiguration reveals to us, and gives to us, and why the Cross is linked to it through glory.  When we go through our own difficulties with life in this world, with the effects of sin (our own or that of others) let us remember the Transfiguration -- the transfiguring power of Christ, and of the Cross.  For these apply in our own lives each day.