The Transfiguration (Mark 9)

Jesus’ clothes became a dazzling white, such as no fuller on Earth could bleach them. A cloud [the presence of God] descended on him. A voice was heard, “Listen to him!” Two mighty prophets, fore-runners of the Messiah’s coming, appeared with him. Peter declared, “Let us build three booths here,” because according to many, the Messiah was supposed to come during Sukkot, the Festival of Booths. This is a powerful story that speaks to Israel’s hope and expectation in the coming glory of God. Even if the symbolism of this story is lost on us today, we still resonate with these themes that are present here: themes of hope and expectation and glory.

For Mark and for the church, this story presents at least a glimpse of all of these things in Jesus. We get a sense that God is at work here, in Jesus, in a way that gives us hope and fulfills the promises of God. We sense that God has drawn close to us. The cloud of God’s presence is still felt in Jesus. We see just a glimpse of his future glory, and it fills us with hope. And the disciples now have a life-giving and sustaining hope in the teachings of Jesus, in his foretelling of his own betrayal and death and resurrection, and in his promise of the coming of God’s kingdom. There is a growing understanding that all of these things will be fulfilled in him.

This is God’s action. God’s alone. And if we are transfigured by its reflected light, this too is God’s doing. If the Church is become a place of hope and expectation where God’s glory is revealed, this too is God’s doing. Leave all self-congratulation and speech of our own “transformation” behind. That’s ego-speech. From within the shadow of death, we catch a glimpse in this story of something much greater that lies beyond the veil . . . and it gives us hope.