Seeing the Beyond – Mark 9:2-9

A text – Mark 9:2-9

9:2 Six days later, 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,
9:3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.
9:4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
9:5 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.”
9:6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.
9:7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
9:8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
9:9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

A reflection:

A very big event happens here in our gospel story from Mark. The religious event is called transfiguration, or in Greek, metamorphosis. It had happened before, in the Old Testament, to Elijah (or something very like it), and seeing it was reserved for only those God chose to reveal it to (Elisha, Elijah’s successor). So the three disciples, if they even realized it at the time, were among a very chosen few to see such a vision. But they were terrified, so realizing that fact was probably beyond them.

That word beyond is important, too. In Latin, transfiguration means a change of form – something changing beyond its usual physical properties (its usual “figuration”), moving across or beyond, almost being carried to another place. In Greek, metamorphosis means the after–form – something changing into what it will become beyond now, in another time. So the change in Jesus was beyond the usual in both space and time. Jesus was changed so that the glory of the Kingdom of God, about which he spoke all the time to the disciples and to the crowds, could be actually seen in his person, so glowing and brilliant that nothing on earth was quite like it.  And to emphasize that Jesus was in fact the fulfillment of both the Law and the prophets, Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophets) appeared there with Jesus.

Jesus was transfigured or metamorphosized, and God revealed Jesus’s “beyond” form to his chosen disciples. Then, not to put too fine a point on it, God’s voice spoke from a cloud, saying “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” The all-too-human disciples, and Jesus himself, for that matter, could all hear and see that Jesus was Lord, the Son of God. There was no doubt. And then, as suddenly as this experience had unfolded and reached its peak, it was over.

The thing about seeing or hearing a “beyond” vision is that it does not last forever. It is fleeting. But God gives us such moments in time and space to help us understand or to convict us in our beliefs. If you have ever had a moment when God has revealed something to you, you know what I mean. It is here and then it is gone. But you do not forget it. And the truth revealed about Jesus that day would never leave those three disciples. It was the ultimate epiphany, a great “showing” of Jesus to three followers.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for showing us Jesus. Thank you for allowing the disciples to see Jesus’s true glory, and the glory of your Kingdom, without hiddenness, without a veil. Thank you for this story, told to Mark later on, so that all of us know that it happened. Help us to see and appreciate when you reveal something to us. Let us be aware of all that you show us in our everyday lives.  Amen.