MARKAN MEDITATIONS

Meditations in the Gospel of St.Mark

St. Mark 9:7-13

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THESE VERSES close the account in Mark of the Transfiguration of Jesus. I have divided the meditations concerning this event, feeling that to deal with the whole account in one would make too long a meditation.

After the glorious ecstasy of the beatific vision of Jesus in his glory, a cloud descends on Jesus with Moses and Elijah. I believe the cloud to be no ordinary cloud, but the cloud that we come across often in the Bible. It is the cloud that followed the Israelites through their journey in the wilderness, from which the presence of God came down into their midst. It is the same cloud that received Jesus back into heaven at his ascension. This cloud always is connected with the coming of the presence of God to his people, and with the nearness of the heavenly realm to this earthly existence.

God spoke from the cloud as he spoke at the time of the baptism of Jesus, and gave testimony to Christ. God spoke from the cloud to Moses in the wilderness when the cloud came down on the tabernacle. There are two very special things that are revealed to us by this testimony. The first is the uniqueness of Jesus, and his oneness with the Father - he is the Father's beloved Son from all eternity. God gives testimony that Jesus is none other than one with the Father, and wholly God himself. The reason we should hear him is because he is one in thought, mind and will with the Father, so that to hear him is to know the mind and will of God, and to obey him is to be obedient to God. The disciples were being prepared by Jesus for the ministry of preaching which was to come after Jesus had wrought redemption. They needed to be convinced and assured that Jesus was their God and Lord, and all that he told them and taught them was the counsel of God.

Then there is something very special in the words "my Son, whom I love". As Jesus came down from the mount with his three disciples, he again referred to his work. He spoke of rising from the dead, and thus he spoke by association of his suffering and death. How could God love Jesus if he allowed him to suffer so dreadfully. By this statement that Jesus was dearly loved of the Father we are assured that in spite of the cross the Father loved his one and only Son. Further we are given a wholly different complexion to the suffering of Jesus. Yes, Jesus was dearly loved of the Father. Yes, Jesus was sent by the Father to suffer and die and experience hell. These two facts reveal the wondrous infinite love of God for sinners, that, because it was the only way that we sinners could be forgiven and accounted just before God, God was willing to make the Son of his love suffer most awfully that this might be so. As God loved Jesus so much, his love in giving him to death for us, is amazing and cannot fail to move and claim our heart's love.

Then as Jesus and his disciples come down from the mountain, Jesus tells these three that they must not disclose any of this wonderful sight until after he had risen from the dead. Jesus does not explain the reason for this command. This is like many ways Jesus deals with us. He gives us his command through his word. We are puzzled about the reason why, just as these disciples were, but like the disciples, even though we have been given no explanation, we must obey in obedient faith.

It is right and proper to enquire and search for the reason as long as we obey first. Here, it seems to me, that as the blessing of the heavenly realm could not be given until Christ had completed his work of redeeming us from sin, it was proper to wait until after Jesus had risen, and so made complete atonement for sin, before the glory of heaven and the glory of the Son of Man should be told as revealed in the transfiguration. This is just my observation. I suspect that there is much more to learn about this still.

Then again I find the question concerning the coming of Elijah in the answer Jesus gave to the question of these three disciples quite obscure. Jesus agrees that Elijah must come first and restore all things. It is not made clear whether this coming is at the end of the world, or a coming before the Messiah, which Jesus says was fulfilled in John the Baptist. When we turn to the account in Matthew's Gospel Jesus still does not tell the disciples anything about the coming of Elijah at the end of the world. However he does seem to affirm that there will be such a coming at that time. Instead what Jesus does is to centre the thoughts of the disciples on the fact that the prophecy concerning the coming of Elijah has already been in part fulfilled in John the Baptist, and reminds the disciples of how the Jews treated him. This reminder is for two reasons. Firstly to prepare them for the fact that the Jews would treat Jesus in exactly the same way. Secondly that when Elijah comes at the end of the world, people will be no more ready to receive him or recognize him in the form he will come then, than the Jews were ready to receive John the Baptist.

This is a melancholy testimony to the dreadful bondage to sin and Satan that people are in, and their refusal to heed the Gospel. How much should believers pray for people in their darkness and cry to God to give them light and redemption.