Lectionary Reflection — 11 February 2018
2-4Six days later, three of them did see it. Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. His clothes shimmered, glistening white, whiter than any bleach could make them. Elijah, along with Moses, came into view, in deep conversation with Jesus.
5-6Peter interrupted, “Rabbi, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials — one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.” He blurted this out without thinking, stunned as they all were by what they were seeing.
7Just then a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and from deep in the cloud, a voice: “This is my Son, marked by my love. Listen to him.”
8The next minute the disciples were looking around, rubbing their eyes, seeing nothing but Jesus, only Jesus.
9-10Coming down the mountain, Jesus swore them to secrecy. “Don’t tell a soul what you saw. After the Son of Man rises from the dead, you’re free to talk.” They puzzled over that, wondering what on earth “rising from the dead” meant.
Other readings:
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Reality began to shift. An extremely dense fog enveloped us and an incredibly bright light seemed to be coming from Jesus himself. I started to get nauseous. I couldn’t tell what was real anymore. We seemed to have stepped over into the Otherworld. As I steadied myself on a nearby bolder, I called out to my companions —
“Are you guys seeing this, too?”
“I thought it was just me,” James answered quietly.
As usual, John didn’t say anything. I could barely make out his face because of the blinding light. There were tears streaming down his cheeks. John fell to his knees with his hands raised in worship. James followed his little brother’s lead and knelt beside him, his head bowed in reverence.
I turned back to Jesus as two figures slowly appeared through the thick haze and approached him. I don’t know how, but I knew it was Moses and Elijah. They were talking with Jesus and I could barely make out what they were saying. It sounded like they were speaking inside a whirlwind. What was that? … something about … departure? “What does that even mean,” I thought to myself.
I looked back to James and John. They were now laying prostrate in the dirt. I looked back at the strange conversation happening just a couple of feet in front of me. I finally mustered up the courage to speak and shouted above the roaring wind —
“Master! This is great! Let’s put up three tents — one for your, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!”
They all turned and looked at me. I felt the blood rush to my face. I felt stupid for even opening my mouth. I glanced at the ground.
Reality shifted again. What seemed like a cloud fell heavy upon us — you could feel the weight of it! The howling wind churched up to an almost deafening roar.
Then suddenly…
Silence.
And then, a voice. It seemed to come from everywhere — above us, below us, behind us, in front of us, all around us. It seemed to be coming from the air, the ground, the rocks, even from within me!
“This is my Son — the beloved. Listen to him.”
I dropped to the ground and lay prostrate in the dust, tears filling my eyes. I laid there trembling.
The ground shook.
The wind howled once more.
The light was bleeding through my clenched eyes. I thought I would burst from it.
Then reality shifted again and all was silent once more.
I felt someone touch my head. I looked up and saw Jesus kneeling in front of me smiling. He helped me up and wiped the mud from my face. I stood there in sort of a daze. Jesus helped up James and John, too. We all just looked at each other. Moses and Elijah were nowhere to be seen. Everything was back to normal.
As we walked down the mountain in a stunned silence, Jesus admonished us not to tell anyone about what we had experienced until after he was raised from the dead. “Raised from the dead?” I thought to myself. “I wonder what he means by that?”
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The Lectionary Readings this week are a bit strange. If you look at the Revised Common Lectionary website, you’ll see that the title states, “Transfiguration Sunday.” However, the Feast of the Transfiguration is celebrated on 6 August in most churches.2 But when it comes to the Reformed Calvinist and Presbyterian churches, the feast day is celebrated on the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday, which is what we see here (Ash Wednesday being 15 February). So, it appears that the Revised Common Lectionary is following the lead of the Presbyterians and celebrating the Transfiguration today instead of the traditional date of August 6th.
But now that that’s out of the way, what are we to make of the text? To be quite honest, a lot of people fumble over this passage for a multiple of reasons. So let’s briefly look at those foibles.
The first one is eschatological in nature. That is, it pertains to the “last days.” In the verses that immediately proceed this passage, Jesus told the disciples:
“If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.” Then he drove it home by saying, “This isn’t pie in the sky by and by. Some of you who are standing here are going to see it happen, see the kingdom of God arrive in full force, before you die.”
Some people see the fulfillment of these verses in the Transfiguration. Even The Message falls victim to this interpretation — “Six days later, three of them did see it. Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes” (Mark 9.2; emphasis added).
Now, certainly, the way the story is laid out, that conclusion makes sense. But the context of the story doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. I’ve added “before you die” to the passage in The Message because that’s the way it appears in Greek.3 The question we must ask is, “Who died within those six days?” Jesus said that some of the disciple with him wouldn’t die before they saw God’s Realm arrive. This implies that others would die before that would happen. So, again, who died between verse 1 and verse 2?4
No one.
Another question: How can the Transfiguration be seen as “the kingdom of God arriv[ing] in full force”? If Jesus had said some of them would see him transfigured before their very eyes, well, then, absolutely, that would be a direct fulfillment. But that’s not what he said. So, again, how is the Transfiguration the coming of God’s Realm in “full force”? Some see the possibility of two other interpretations: “[T]he coming of the Spirit as the inauguration of the kingdom or the second coming with the ultimate establishment of the kingdom.”5
The problem with these interpretations are both tied to the death of some of those standing with Jesus. (Mark 8.38). The view that Pentecost (the coming of the Spirit — Acts 2) is the fulfillment of Mark 9.1 doesn’t make sense because Judas was the only disciple who had died by that time (Acts 1.15ff). Again, Jesus said “some” would die, meaning more than Judas. So that’s not it.
The other interpretation about it referring to the “Second Coming with the ultimate establishment of the kingdom” doesn’t make sense either because all the disciples would be dead (and have been dead for quite some time), not just “some” of them.
The only event that meets the requirements Jesus mentioned is the Fall of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE. For a detailed look at this event, see my series, New Testament Eschatology.
The other way people see the transfiguration is that it showed Peter, James, and John the Divinity of Jesus. Again, this interpretation falls apart with a closer look. Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus. As Tom Wright points out, “If [this were a revelation about Jesus’ divinity], that would make Moses and Elijah divine, too.”6 This, then, isn’t about Jesus’ divinity. So what’s going on?
First of all, there seems to be a parallel between this scene and that of Moses meeting Yahweh on mount Sinai (Exodus 19). That’s the place where Yahweh gave Moses the Law (Exodus 34). The smoke, glory, thunder, booming voice, and the shining appearance all tie together (Exodus 19; 34). It seems that Mark is wanting his readers to make this connection.
But there are some differences, too. Peter, James, and John didn’t have to wait at the bottom of the mountain like their ancestors (Exodus 19.9-13). They got to be there. Also, in the Moses account, we don’t have record of anyone else on the mountain. Here in Mark’s story, Moses and Elijah appear.
And there are other quite shocking things that happen within the story, as well. Obviously, there’s the change of Jesus’ appearance. But there’s also a key to understanding this passage, too. When Peter interrupted the Jesus’ conversation with Moses and Elijah about his coming test, he said “Let’s build three memorials!” The Greek word translated as “memorials” in The Message is σκηνή (skēnē) and it means, “a tent, tabernacle; generally any temporary dwelling; a tent, or booth” (Mounce). This is an important word. Why would Peter say this — Let’s build three tents or tabernacles? The consensus is two-fold: 1) This took place during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot; Leviticus 23.39-43). This was an annual feast for the nation where people from all over would come to Jerusalem to celebrate. In preparation for the feast, people would erect shelters or tents symbolizing when their ancestors wandered in the wilderness for forty years. This was the time when Yahweh dwelt in a tent, too. The connection shouldn’t be missed. Mark is telling us that Peter wanted to make a place for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses just like ancient Israel had made for Yahweh. But the inference is that Yahweh now dwells with people in a different way. Yahweh now lives in and through people!
Lastly, I want to just mention the Celtic idea of “thin place.” Thin places were places where two worlds met together — the edge of a forest and a meadow, the seashore, the threshold of a home, etc. Thin places were also seen as the time between times — right before dusk or dawn. In our story today, Jesus and his disciples stepped into a thin place. It was the place where Yahweh’s Realm and their realm overlapped. For a brief moment, there were in a time between times — a place neither here nor there but where both here and there. And the disciples didn’t even notice it at first.
How often does this happen to us today? Too often we’re so caught up in our own little worlds to notice the thin places all around us. And we’re too engaged in other things to notice the thin place within ourselves or those around us. What steps can we make to become more aware of God’s presence in and all around us? What things can we think of that would create the space for a thin place in our surroundings? Within ourselves and our communities?
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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1. Scripture quotations marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
3. Literally, μὴ γεύσωνται θανάτου “will not taste death.”
5. Ibid.
6. Wright, N. T., (2001). Mark for Everyone [Kindle Version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com.
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