A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (24)

 


“…Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” … Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” (Mark 9.2-7)

 

     Six days after Peter’s confession of him as Messiah (i.e., on the seventh day; 9.2), Jesus takes the “inner ring” of Peter, James and John (cf. 5.37) up a mountain by themselves (cf. 3.13).  At the summit, Jesus is “transfigured”; i.e., his divine nature shines through his mortal condition (9.2-3).  Peter’s proposal to build three “tents” (dwellings, tabernacles) is the clue as to what is going on here (9.5).  Yahweh’s glory (“Shekinah”), in the form of a pillar of cloud/fire, had floated above the tabernacle during the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness with Moses following the Exodus from Egypt (cf. Ex. 40.34-38).  Mark now shows us Jesus as the living embodiment of the glory of Yahweh.  Like Moses, Jesus goes up a mountain before reflecting the divine glory (cf. Ex. 34.29-35).

     Indeed, both Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus, and speak with him.  These two biblical figures are important for several reasons.  First of all, Jesus, Elijah and Moses are the three people in the Bible who are described as having fasted for a period of 40 days (cf. Ex. 34.28; 1 Kings 19.8; Lk. 4.2/Mt. 4.2).  Next, Moses and Elijah represent “the Law” & “the prophets”, respectively.  The Hebrew Scriptures are divided into three parts – the Law, the Prophets and the Writings (Hebrew: TorAh, NAbim, Ketuvim = TANAKH; cf. Lk. 24.44).  This becomes important later, when Jesus and the three disciples descend the mountain and Jesus twice uses the phrase “as it is written” (9.12-13).  Jesus is shown to be the culmination of the Law and the Prophets, i.e., he is what the Scriptures had always been pointing towards.  Following Peter’s suggestion to construct three dwellings, “a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’” (9.7; cf. 1.11).  For the second time in Mark’s narrative, God’s voice has confirmed Jesus’ identity as his Son.  Moses was known as the “Teacher of Israel” (cf. Mt. 23.1-3; Jn. 5.46).  Moses had taught the Israelites the great Shema Y’israel prayer (i.e., “Hear, O Israel”; cf. Dt. 6.4-5).  As for Jesus, he has been placing a great emphasis on the importance of “hearing” well (cf. 4.3, 9, 11-12, 23-24, 33).  Now, God’s voice commands the disciples to “hear” Jesus (9.7)!  Jesus, the Son of God who embodies the divine glory is the One who speaks the Word of God, the truth that God wishes to communicate to his people.

     As the four men descend the mountain, Jesus orders the disciples not to say anything about this experience until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead (9.9).  The disciples wonder what this talk of rising from the dead could possibly mean.  Then Peter, James and John ask Jesus: Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come in order to hail the arrival of the Messiah? (9.11).  Jesus responds that the scribes are right to say this, because Elijah is indeed coming first “to restore all things”.  Jesus then asks the disciples how it can be that “it is written” that the Son of Man is to suffer greatly and be treated with contempt (9.12)?  Jesus goes on to say that “Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him” (9.13).  Jesus considers John to have been “Elijah”, whose coming preceded his own, making an implicit claim (as if it was necessary) that he is indeed the Messiah (cf. 1.1-8, 14; 6.17-29).  What is more, Jesus considers the Scriptures to have foretold the sufferings of John as well as his own “passion” which is still to come.  As had occurred during the episode of Peter’s confession, a re-affirmation of Jesus’ royal identity is coupled with a prediction of his paradoxical fate (cf. 8.27-31).  “Glory”, for Jesus, is inextricably linked with suffering.  Peter, James and John have been privileged to receive more and more “inside information”, both from God and from Jesus himself, as to the fact that Jesus truly is the king of Israel.  Once again, we have been reminded that the kingdom of Jesus is a kingdom, not of self-serving glory, but rather of a “glory” that takes the shape of a cross…

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (5)

Image
“A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean .”   Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean !” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean .   (Mk. 1.40-42)      Along with exorcisms, Jesus performs many healings of various physical ailments in the early chapters of Mark’s Gospel.   Jesus’ first healing is that of Simon’s mother-in-law (1.29-31).   With the restoration of the leper, we begin to understand the meaning of Jesus’ healings (and exorcisms).   The thrice-repeated word “clean” in the above passage reveals what is truly going on when the King restores the members of the people of God to wholeness.   Leprosy rendered its victim “unclean”, i.e., it proscribed that person from participation in the life of the community, of both civil society and the worship/litur...
Read more

The Protestant Reformation - good news?

Image
  The study of Reformation Europe makes many Christians wish that they had lived in the 16th century. Name 1) Some good reasons for not living in the sixteenth century and 2) Some ways in which we can live more deliberately as Christians today because of the events of that century. How should it and how should it not make a difference?    Some good reasons for not living in the 16th century include the climate of religious intolerance and violence.   Religious affiliation and observance were compulsory and imposed on the people by the state, especially it seems, in Protestant countries.   There was no freedom of conscience, except perhaps in England during the reign of Elizabeth, where the windows to people’s souls remained shut to the state, so long as they publicly conformed to the monarch’s religion (as enforced by parliament).   One may have thought that Luther’s appeal to conscience at the Diet of Worms would have inspired a broader and more sensit...
Read more

“Walking the tightrope” (St. Luke’s: Wednesday, August 22nd, 2018: Ez. 34.1-11; Ps. 23; St. Mt. 20.1-16)

Image
Ancient relevance.   Any conscientious catholic who has the habit of watching the news cannot help but notice a direct link between today’s first reading and what is going on in the Church these days.   Last week, a grand jury released a report detailing the results of their 2-year long investigation into dozens of clergymen who had abused upwards of 1,000 children in various dioceses in the state of Pennsylvania.   Every time cases of the abuse of children by priests and religious come to light, we are reminded that we live in a world – and are part of a Church – deeply infected by evil .   And of course, let’s not forget that the line between good and evil runs through each one of us (cf. Solzhenitsyn).   In today’s first reading, the prophet Ezekiel proclaims an oracle of judgment against the false “shepherds” of God’s “flock”.   Instead of caring for, protecting and nurturing God’s people , Israel’s leaders had exploited the people for their...
Read more