On this Transfiguration Sunday, imagine what it would have been like to be one of the disciples going up a mountain with Jesus, encountering some of the heroes of faith from Israel’s history, and seeing God’s glory shining through Jesus, affirming his true identity. A sermon on Mark 9:2-9.
I can no longer find the post to cite, but I’m grateful for some conversation on this text in a Facebook group, particularly a comment from Robert Myallis, for helping me find a direction to go with this story.
Here’s the podcast audio and the worship livestream from Christ the King.
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
I want to imagine you this morning what it would have been like to be one of the characters in this story. Not Jesus or Peter, but a secondary character, maybe James or John, the ones who don’t get any lines, who mostly just observe.
You’ve been traveling with Jesus for a while now, ever since he called you to follow him. You weren’t there for his baptism, but maybe you’ve heard stories about what happened.
After all, some of the other disciples in your group had been followers of John the Baptist, so they would have been there that day. They’d have heard the heavenly voice declare over Jesus, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
But you and your brother were just fishermen then. You were minding your own business, in your boat mending your nets when one day, Jesus walked by, and called he you to follow.
You knew this was a moment in life when everything could change. There was something about this Jesus, something compelling about this young, itinerant rabbi.
So you answered his call. You dropped your nets, left your father Zebedee in the boat, and followed.
Over the next few months, you’ve heard him teach again and again, teaching in synagogues at Sabbath services, speaking to crowds of people, crowds which have kept growing larger and larger, thousands of people at a time. This is a movement. Over and over, you’ve heard Jesus proclaim the coming of God’s kingdom. God’s reign is near, at hand.
And you’ve seen him do miracles, performing signs as proof that what he’s saying is true. God is doing something miraculous! Some of the miracles have been big—just recently, you helped him distribute food to a crowd of over 5,000 people. All you had were a few loaves and fish to start with, but somehow, that was enough for Jesus.
He blessed it and gave it to you to pass around, and somehow you just kept handing it out and there was plenty for everyone.
There have been plenty of smaller miracles too, like that time when Peter’s mother-in-law was sick, and Jesus raised her back to health, or this one time when there was a man with a demon and Jesus commanded the demon to leave him and go into a herd of pigs. That was a weird one—the farmer wasn’t very happy when his pigs ran off into the ocean and drowned!
So many people healed, it’s hard to keep track…lepers and a bleeding woman and a synagogue leader’s daughter. It’s been amazing to watch! You can hardly believe you’ve gotten to be part of it.
Of course, not everyone’s been happy with what Jesus is doing. Some people have been skeptical just because Jesus is one of us, a carpenter’s son from Nazareth. It’s hard to imagine a real prophet or leader from God coming from there.
And there are others, like King Herod and some of the religious leaders—they’re pretty content with the way things are…not sure they’re interested in a “new kingdom” coming. You’ve even heard that Herod recently had John the Baptist executed for criticizing him. John was right, of course, but he ought to have known he was playing with fire.
Just recently, you were with the other disciples in Caesarea Philippi when Jesus asked you what people were saying about him. There was some discussion of Jesus being a great teacher like John had been, or even one of God’s great messengers like a prophet of old, Elijah, or Isaiah, or someone like that. But then Peter spoke up, you know, like he always seems to, and he said, “You are the Messiah.”
Jesus changed the subject a bit and started talking about suffering and death and rising again, but ever since Peter said that, you’ve wondering — was he right? Could this Jesus, your friend, really be the savior God promised, the Messiah? How would you know?
That was six days ago, and the question’s been rolling around in your mind ever since. Of course Jesus is doing great things, of course he’s a great teacher, but the Messiah? Someone straight from God?
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I imagine that’s just some of what’s in James’ and John’s minds as they go up a high mountain with Peter and Jesus, just the four of them.
And on that mountain, something happens. They get this glimpse, this revelation of who Jesus truly is. First, Jesus is transfigured before them and his clothes become dazzling white. Mark says they’re whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them.
This story always reminds me of this Super Bowl ad from a few years ago where a bunch of different commercials turned into Tide ads – you can tell because none of the characters had stains on their clothes.
This experience is not about laundry detergent; something miraculous is going on here. Suddenly, talking with Jesus, there are two people: Moses and Elijah. These are two of the greatest people in history, the people God has spoken through in the past. I’m not sure how the disciples recognized them, but they would have grown up hearing about them.
Moses is essentially the founding father of Israel. He’s the one who led the people out of their slavery in Egypt and through the wilderness. He’s the one who received the Ten Commandments from God on a mountain—notice, by the way, God seems to like showing up on mountains—thin spaces, sacred spaces where heaven meets earth. Moses is the reason the people know God’s law, know who they are and how to live as God’s chosen people.
And Elijah is the great prophet who restored Israel when they’d fallen away from God, when they’d forgotten the law. He’s not the only one—that’s kind of what prophets do—but he’s the most significant. Still today, he’s the one mentioned each week in Jewish Sabbath celebrations. He’s the one for whom a chair is left open at circumcision ceremonies, the one known for being “zealous for the Lord.”
These two figures are the living representation of God’s historical activity in the world. And here they are talking with Jesus. In a way, this story is about passing the torch to Jesus. This man Jesus is the one through whom God is going to redeem the world.
But even that’s not enough. That’s the point where Peter starts babbling about putting up some tents and staying a while, not because it’s a good idea, but because he doesn’t know what else to say.
I like the contrast in verse 6: He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. All of them are terrified, but only Peter doesn’t know what to say. James and John apparently don’t feel the same need as Peter to fill this holy space with words.
But again, that’s not all that happens. A cloud comes up and overshadows them—God has a history of being present in clouds as well—and a voice from the cloud says, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
It’s an echo of the words at Jesus’ baptism, but there it was spoken to Jesus: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Those words affirmed Jesus’ identity to him, giving him strength before his temptation, before the start of his public ministry. These words are spoken to the disciples. This is an affirmation for them of Jesus’ identity as God’s Son, and a command: “Listen to him.”
And then it’s just Jesus and the disciples. The disciples looked around, but they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. And Jesus was enough. Jesus is enough.
It’s not that Moses and Elijah and the rest of the great ancient heroes of the past aren’t important, but they all point to Jesus. The law, the prophets, all the miracles of the past, the lineage of King David, all of it points to Jesus. As Christians, we believe Scripture is the story of Jesus. He is the way God is redeeming the world. It’s all about Jesus.
As Paul writes to the church in Corinth, this is all about “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God…it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Jesus is the one who is the light of the world. Jesus is the one who reveals God to us.
You and I don’t get the same moment of a voice speaking through the clouds, but we get to know a lot more of the story than Peter, James, and John did.
We get the witness of the empty tomb, the proof of Jesus’ power even over death. We encounter the light of the gospel here, in the body of Christ, in the water of baptism, at the table where Christ gives us his very self. And Jesus is still enough.
The prophet Isaiah asks “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the Ends of the earth.” This is the God revealed in Jesus. This is the one who has come to save us. This is the one who has come to redeem the world.
The one who made you, who made all of creation, is the same God who has entered this world out of love for you. Jesus, who is God in the flesh, God with us, has laid down his life for you.
This Jesus is God’s Son. This is the one we worship and praise. Listen to him. Amen