The Transfiguration

The Glory of Jesus Revealed

Mark 9:2–13 NIV

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant. And they asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”

As a modern reader this part of the story of Jesus is confusing at best and really weird at worst.

But the Jewish reader is seeing something amazing happening. Part of the story that they’ve been waiting for, longing for, have arrived. God himself has shown up and what we suspected was true about Jesus has been confirmed.

And yet the implications don’t quite sink in yet.

We stopped at a disruptive part of Mark before the summer started when we switched to “What Jesus says about money.” The transfiguration is really the final set into a journey with Jesus that is becoming super clear in the Gospel of Mark.

Which is really where I want to start with this… the transfiguration shows the interactive journey of learning fully who Jesus is… which is the story for all of us.

The interactive journey of learning fully who Jesus is

We are nine chapters in but they’ve journeyed with Jesus for a long while.

He’s healed loads of people. He’s walked on water. He’s stirred up the religious leaders. He’s taught crowds. He’s multiplied food.

And then Mark 8:27-30 comes along. (Peter’s confession)

Peter says - YOU ARE THE CHRIST THE SON OF GOD.

Which is a mic drop moment.

But then immediately Peter doesn’t quite understand it.

-Mark 8:31–33 “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.””

In Peter’s mind if Jesus is CHRIST - THE SON OF GOD. There should be no suffering or dying involved.

But Peter is on a journey of learning who Jesus is.

ME—-> And this is my journey and your journey too.

When you first come to know Jesus, you don’t quite grasp who he is fully. You get glimpses and you trust him with parts of your life.

-As you journey with Jesus, you give him more and more of your trust.

This has been true for me

So here’s Peter on the top of the mountain. Literally having a mountain top experience with Jesus. He and his friends have seen the glory of God and it’s an important moment.

He’s learned who Jesus is when there isn’t enough food.

He has learned who Jesus is when there is a storm.

He has learned who Jesus is in the face of injustice.

He has learned who Jesus is in the suffering. And even that Jesus will suffer too.

He has learned who Jesus is in the face of sickness and death.

He has learned who Jesus is when there’s no way across.

He has learned who Jesus is compared to religious leaders.

Now he is seeing that Jesus is who he says he is. That Jesus is God and that he is greater than Moses and Elijah.

How about for you?

What have the seasons of your life shown you about who Jesus is?

What are you learning right now?

Let’s get into the passage itself - What is happening here? We are missing a lot if we just blast through it. There’s so much happening that can help us grow closer to Jesus today.

Greater than Moses and Elijah

The mention of Moses and Elijah is important context for the astute Old Testament reader.

Moses came off the mountain after meeting with God and he was beaming. Exodus 34:29-34

Exodus 34:29–34 NIV

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded,

Elijah

2 Kings 2:11 “As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.”

Elijah and Moses are two of the greats. Though out of all the greats. Why these two? What is happening here that matters for the journey with Jesus.

There’s a lot of things that these two figures represent especially as a pair.

-Deliverers — Moses out of Egypt: oppression, slavery, etc. and Elijah out of idolatry and waywardness

-Law and the Prophets — Moses often represents the law as he brought it from God to the people. Is said to have written the Torah. Elijah the figurehead of the prophets. The Messiah would encompass both of these.

Malachi 4:4–6 ““Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.””

Deuteronomy 18:15–18 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.”

The showcase that Jesus is superior. They are looking to him as we should too. Jesus is greater than Elijah and Moses.

The Gospel according to Mark Removing the Veil: The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2–8)

the presence of Moses and Elijah as forerunners attests to the culmination of a purposeful revelation of God’s Son with the history of Israel.

Romans 10:4 “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”

What’s this mean for us?

Transfiguration encouragement for us